Documentary Film Festival May 22–31, 2009

Documentary Film Festival

May 22–31, 2009 FESTIVAL GUIDE

www.doxafestival.ca Vancouver, canada

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Presenting Partner table of contents

Tickets and General Festival Info...... 3 Pulling John...... 43

The Documentary Media Society...... 5 Chasing Wild Horses ...... 45

Acknowledgements...... 6 The Memories of Angels ...... 45

Greetings from our Funders...... 9 Essay: Word Within the Word...... 46

Welcome from DOXA...... 11 Waterlife...... 47

Awards ...... 13 Word Within the Word...... 47

DOXA Youth Programs...... 15 I Want to Grow Old in China...... 49

Opening Night Film: Inside Hana’s Suitcase. . . . . 17 The Dungeon Masters ...... 49

Closing Night Film: Act of God...... 19 To The Tar Sands...... 51

A Dream for Kabul...... 20 Here Are The News ...... 51

Shooting Women ...... 21 Mirage of El Dorado ...... 53

FORUM: Women Behind the Camera...... 21 Necrobusiness ...... 53

Shots in the Dark...... 22 Essay: The Sixties...... 54

Robinsons of Mantsinsaari ...... 23 The Sixties: From 1969 to 2009 ...... 55

Hair India...... 23 The One Percent...... 55

The Queen and I ...... 25 Afghan Girls Can Kick...... 57

Milking the Rhino ...... 25 The Sweetest Embrace ...... 57

Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love...... 27 Devil’s Bargain ...... 59

Nobody’s Perfect ...... 27 In a Dream ...... 59

…And Music...... 29 Say My Name...... 61

Ex-voto for Three Souls...... 29 American Swing...... 61

The Art of the Short Documentary...... 31 Land of Oil and Water...... 63

Eternal Mash...... 31 FORUM: Where is the Line? ...... 63

Shining Stars / Maytal...... 33 Rough Aunties...... 65

The Meaning of Life...... 33 The Tree Lover ...... 65

Yodok Stories ...... 35 The Garden...... 67

Soneros: The Sound of the River...... 35 Carmen Meets Borat ...... 67

Festival Schedule...... 36 Jehad In Motion ...... 68

Forgetting Dad ...... 39 Upstream Battle ...... 69

7915 KM...... 39 FORUM: The Ecology of Films...... 69

Tulku ...... 41 Essay: Reality Sandwiches...... 70

Seeking Refuge...... 41 Welfare...... 71

Who The Jew Are You? ...... 42 My Mother’s Farm ...... 71

Transit Dubai...... 43

Front Cover Image from 7915 KM (page 39) by Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper

Tickets and General Festival Info

Tickets Biz Books 302 West Cordova Street Opening Night Film: $15 10am – 6pm Monday to Friday Opening Night Film with Party: $35* 11am – 6pm Saturday Single Tickets: $10 12pm – 5pm Sunday Festival Pass (excludes Opening Night): $125 (includes $2 membership) Tickets at the Door Membership: $2 Only tickets for day of screening can be purchased at the screening Forums and Richard Fung Installation are free of charge. venue . Box Office opens 30 minutes prior to each screening . Cash only at venues . * Opening Night Party – May 22, 2009 at 9:30pm Join us at the Vancouver Art Gallery following the Opening Night Film . Enjoy scrumptious Subeez nibbles with Peller Estate’s fine Rush Tickets wines or a hand-crafted brew from Storm Brewing — and listen in If a show is sold out, rush tickets may be available at the door . A on the hot tickets buzz — all while supporting DOXA! generous allotment of seats are reserved for passholders . Any un- claimed seats will be released just prior to the screening on a first Membership come, first served basis . The Documentary Media Society presents films that have not been seen by the BC Film Classification Board . Under BC law, anyone Will Call wishing to see these unclassified films must be a member of the Tickets and festival passes purchased online can be picked up from Documentary Media Society and 18 years of age or older . When Will Call at the festival theatre of your first screening . You must you purchase a membership for $2, you are entitled to attend any present your confirmation number in order to pick up your tickets . screening in 2009, provided you show your membership card . Will Call opens one hour prior to screening for opening and closing The following films have been classified for younger audiences and night and 30 minutes prior for all other screenings . Please arrive in will therefore not require a membership: Afghan Girls Can Kick, advance to allow time to pick up your order (especially for opening Chasing Wild Horses, Inside Hana’s Suitcase, To the Tar Sands. night) .

Theatre Procedures for Festival Venues Passholders Empire Granville 7 Theatre [G7] Bring your festival pass to Will Call to receive your admittance 855 Granville Street (at Robson) ticket(s) for the film(s) you wish to see at that venue for that day . Pacific Cinémathèque [PC] Once you have your ticket you may join the ticket holders queue . 1131 Howe Street (at Helmcken) Passholders must arrive at the venue at least 20 minutes prior to the screening . A festival pass does not guarantee you seating to Vancity Theatre [VT] sold-out shows . Your DOXA festival pass gives you access to all 1181 Seymour Street (at Davie) screenings except Opening Night . All passes are strictly non- Vancouver Art Gallery [opening night party only] transferable and passholders are required to show ID and valid 750 Hornby Street entrance (between Georgia & Robson) membership . Accessibility Advance Tickets All theatres are wheelchair accessible with limited spots available . Advance tickets are available for purchase until 9pm the day before the screening . Festival Information Online at www .doxafestival .ca DOXA Office Please note: All festival passes and tickets purchased online are #5 – 1726 Commercial Drive subject to processing fees. Vancouver, BC, Canada V5N 4A3 Bibliophile Bookshop Cash only 604 646 3200 | www .doxafestival .ca 2010 Commercial Drive 11am – 6pm Daily

Videomatica Cash only 1855 West 4th Avenue 11am – 10pm Sunday to Thursday 11am – 11pm Friday & Saturday

3 Equipped with single-use cameras, your favorite celebs have unleashed their point & shoot creativity to support exposed! DOXA’s Celebrity Camera Auction. Be the highest bidder to own a unique set of undeveloped snapshots, exposing the remarkable lives and extraordinary visions of some of today’s most celebrated public figures .

Auction runs throughout the festival . Check out www.doxafestival.ca for more information .

Featuring cameras from Martin Sheen • Jennifer Beals • George Stroumboulopoulos • K-OS • Robert Kennedy Jr . • Mary Walsh • Colin Mochrie Tegan Quin • Avi Lewis • Issa • Jann Arden • Peter Mansbridge • Randy Bachman • Rick Hansen • Colin James • The Weakerthans • Sarah Slean Matthew Good • Veda Hille • Ivan e . Coyote • Joey Shithead • Lisa Brokop • Fred Ewanuick • Gloria Macarenko • Ian Hanomansing • Rob Stewart Ze Frank • Eric Johnson • Paul Hyde • Brent Bambury • Michael Winter • Bob Lenarduzzi • Lainey Lui • Kid Carson Show • Natalie Brown • and more!

All proceeds support DOXA’s mission to bring you the best in documentary filM . raffle Buy tickets for your chance to win these great prizes!

Comox Valley Vacation Package Air Grouse Mountain Zipline passes »» Vancouver-Comox return flights on Central Mountain Air for four »» Weekend hotel spa retreat at Old House Village Hotel & Spa iPod shuffle from Mac Station »» Horne Lake Caves adventure excursion

Victoria Vacation Package Nokia cell phones »» Vancouver-Victoria return flights on Helijet . . And more! »» Luxury stay at Hotel Grand Pacific

Tickets on sale at festival venues throughout DOXA . Draw date: May 31, 2009 . Visit www .doxafestival .ca for more information . The Documentary Media Society

DOXA is presented by the Documentary Media Society, a Vancouver based non-profit, charitable society (incorporated in 1998) devoted to presenting independent and innovative documentaries to Vancouver audiences . The society exists to educate the public about documentary film as an art form through DOXA — a curated and juried festival comprised of public screenings, workshops, panel discussions and public forums .

Executive Director Guest Curators Joni Cooper Deepa Dhanraj, Cornelius Moore, Haida Paul

Director of Programming Board of Directors Kristine Anderson Carolyn Combs, Carri Emerick, Sonia Fraser (treasurer), Ben Garfinkel, Isabella Kessel, Stacy Leblanc (chair), Kenji Maeda, Director of Development Teri Snelgrove (vice-chair), Dorothy Woodend (secretary) Lauren Weisler

Programming Committee Finance and Operations Coordinator Kristine Anderson, Tami Wilson, gloria wong, Dorothy Woodend, Nancy Loh Patti Zettel

Special Events and Volunteer Coordinator Screening Committee Andrew Wright Sonia Marino, Karie McKinley, Jordan Paterson, Education and Youth Coordinator, Programming Assistant, Frances Wasserlein, Meredith Woods and Print Traffic Coordinator Tammy Bannister Fundraising Committee Mark Busse, Janice Chutter, Sonia Fraser, Isabella Kessel, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator Kenji Maeda, Rachel Moffat, Teri Snelgrove, Lauren Weisler, Erin Offer Andrew Wright

Media Relations Community Outreach Committee Marnie Wilson / The Artsbiz Public Relations Carri Emerick, Ben Garfinkel, Kenji Maeda, AJ Murray, Erin Offer, Jo Anne Walton Graphic Design Avi Goldberg / bugeyed .ca Program Advisory Committee Nova Ami, Colin Browne, Szu Burgess, Ann Marie Fleming, Fundraising Consultant Cari Green, Colin Low, Alex Mackenzie, Wendy Oberlander, Andrea Seale / Blueprint Fundraising and Communications Aerlyn Weissman, Carmen Rodriguez

doxa STAFF & CONTRACTORS (l-r): Joni, Kris, Lauren, nancy, Andy, Tammy, Erin, Marnie, AVI .

doxa Board of directors (l-r): Carolyn, Carri, Sonia, Ben, Isabella, Stacy, Kenji, Teri, DorothY .

5 acknoWledGeMents

The Documentary Media Society gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our funders, sponsors and partners .

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Funded in whole or part through the Canada-British Columbia Labour Market Development Agreement

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6 Community Partners

Thanks from DOXA to our contributors, supporters, volunteers and donors…

Scott Akin Dina Grahm Karie McKinley Sarah Sterchel Cari Green Bernadette Amiscaray Ali Grant Barb McLean Evan Stewart Jeff Hatcher Cherry Archer Rich Green Jayson Minard Sean Stone Andrew Hiscox Michael Battley Meghna Haldar Robin Mirsky Veronica Syrtash Industrial Brand Design Trevor Battye Mark Hancock Megan Monteforte Janet Tansley Maria Jacobo Heike Berendes Jeanette Hart Cornelius Moore Simeon Taole Jason Karman Jacques Bensimon Barb Harvey Jennifer Moore Kamala Todd Isabella Kessel Michael Bertrand Anita Ho Laura Moore Jason Vanderhill Vicki Leach Greg Blatchford Selwyn Jacob Andrew Morrison Bob Vinatieri Sarah Leavitt J Bradford Marge Johnson Art Moses Lara Volgyesi Stacy Leblanc Dane Brown Daryl Jolly Ken Muir James Walton Jacqueline Levitin Colin Browne Aki Kanamori Bo Myers Aerlyn Weissman Stephen Lock Mark Callow Kanat Kantman Andy & Rosie Nathani Douglas Williams Kenton Low Sheena Campbell Adam Katz Tish Nicolls Sharron Willson Kenji Maeda Warren Cariou Moira Keigher Lisa Nielsen Margaret Wong Moshe Mastai Betsy Carson Dusty Kelly Juanita Odin Susan Wood Karie McKinley Morag Carter Ben Kempas Greg Osoba Gertrude Zivot Rachel Moffat Greg Chambers Kris Klaasen Kristen Ostling Anne-Mary Mullen Doran Chandler Paul Klassen Richard Overgaard Donors Stan & Aileen Munro Karen Cho Dana Lai Haida Paul Kristine Anderson Dr . PJ Murphy Corporation Michael Choy Fiona Lam David Pay John Atkinson Brian Nicol Mark Cohen Helen Lam Tanya Paz Dale Aucion Marlie Oden Sue Cormier Hadrien Laroche Graham Peat Karen Barkley Eduardo Ottoni Benny Deis Anne Lawrence Deb Pentecost Rosalie Bellefontaine Margot Paris Deepa Dhanraj Glace Lawrence Terra Poirier Tim Belsher Graham Peat Bonnie Do Desiree Leal Glenna Pollon Birger Bergersen Ana Policzer Sue Donaldson Cynthia Lee Andrew Poon Russel Black Steven Robertson Patricia Dziekan Sebastien Le Goff Mary Beth Postman Jennifer Brooks Carmen Rodriguez & Alan LaVerne Edwards Catrina Longmuir Colin Preston Marvin Brown Creighton-Kelly Stella Evans Kristen Lukovich Zoe Quinn Colin Browne Minna Schendlinger Barbara Fairbrother Anna Lumberjack Cecilia Ramirez Annie Burkes Sabine Silberberg Allana Farnell Alex Mackenzie Allen Rhodes Mark Busse Lara Smith Pat Ferns Joanne MacKinnon Holger Schramm Peter Cameron Teri Snelgrove Scott Fraser David Malboeuf Andrea Seale Sheena Campbell Eric Sonner Rina Fraticelli Leah Mallen Sevil Senol Janice Chutter Aileen Spielman Tracey Friesen Doreen Manuel Erin Sikora Lorie Clay Leslie Thompson Jenny Garden Myan Marcen-Gaudaur Moira Simpson Joni Cooper Donna & Marvin Weisler Soressa Gardner Benjamin Maron Harald Sinow Blair Cresswell Lauren Weisler Gina Garenkooper Jodie Martinson Murray Siple Leah Decter Patti Zettel Dan Gawthrop Adam Mash Valerie Sklarevsky Celina Dunn Veronica Zettel Michele Genest Cherryl Masters Bronwen Smith Andrea Elvidge several anonymous donors Patty Gibson Kelly Maxwell Elisa Spijkerman Carri Emerick Avi Goldberg Neil McArthur Patrick Spike Sonia Fraser . . and all who are not listed Dianne Goldberg Dale McCarthy Michèle Stanley Ben Garfinkel due to the print deadline .

ORE EOD TH UIN RO S D UE CQ JA Y NIG TON OE RTH F K O OL CKW W DU AU TIN BE AR AR T M IE B UL ONN MAN N RA E C EIN RO NO B UÈR R KL A EL GIG SHER M ICH GE ONNIE OD M SER FER B LE ILD NS HAF C W DI LY S M IE AR VER N TT ESJ T BE IA NE D AUL COLIN LOW AWARD FOR BEST G L YS ERR W RIPPER IN LA EN E P E VELCRO M AL Y D ERR E LEPAG LE M RE PI RQUIS CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY F R NI EG IN MA IE I N ZM RITTA R AM KE VIS LD B A S C H DONA M Y L M EP RS N SK E JOS OGE N W A G Y R A A CH N ERR N D I HA N G O LO M C RE S K AN NG CLA R E W YU M NE A N O IE AN TON SUZAN N LE C FF RM N SPOT N E L U NO NES JOH U H AU B NT ACIN G Y P A O SA M A A K RN YM TERE L R E E RA AN R IV IZ H R DELM U L C AS TE AD T IL A N PE BEN S G IN E O SE D C R R C OU D A E ER RE Y H O M T T O AR T A M EM M K CH . OS A A T I B LR T I L EV NA E T LL U I LI IN E I A SK EL R W IB A AN CH O H P C MI L N T N N K Z O E H U U E S N O D UN R A A J RT K R M H N E S É P A B IA I L É R O R T L T O R HA U I S D S C G B E A T W A V Z N N R A R Á O A E O A L B R IT M B N R G O R A I M R E R L A A K G B O B I N C N L A D N IL A D IA M E V A L W O H E U O R C E B I R L D K A V U N IC R L A A N I Y N B N S N E R TO N O C E N A D D I F I H L R N A R U W A A A T W O H R L N L M O TE L E Y R A Q E E E C N P N R G U I R A G T A A C T L T E Y E Y IT M IN R R A R A R B R R B B A E K R B N D A P L N N P N U I A H M I L O D I N J Y W H O K A IE P D S S S L I T L R IE V I M I E A R N O W K R D A B L T Z E E O U A F R E N S Q W E H I N B C N O N E N U J A H Y H R L I L B O R A J M A X A T L A R L R T U H E E O K R E D C O E R R D U S A F G Y A L IA M NFB.CA A E S T C H L I C - T E E P A N L N L G E R A Y I I E N P T J C G greetings from our funders

Welcome to the 2009 DOXA Docu- The British Columbia Arts Council mentary Film Festival . is delighted to welcome artists and audiences to the expanded 2009 Our Government recognizes that arts DOXA Documentary Film Festival and culture are at the heart of our Can- May 22 – 31, 2009 . With an addi- adian identity and that creativity and tional four days of festival screen- innovation are vital not only to a ro- bust Canadian culture, but also to our ings this year, Vancouver audiences economy . This is why we are proud can now enjoy 10 days and nights of to invest in festivals and community DOXA . Giving independent media events like the DOXA Documentary artists more opportunity to pres- Film Festival that provide opportun- ent their work to a wider public is ities for Canadians to become involved in their communities and to a hallmark of DOXA and the festival continues to garner respect have greater access to arts and heritage . By screening some of the from documentarians, other media artists and audiences alike for world’s best documentary films and enhancing the public’s enjoy- its curatorial approach to programming . ment of them with workshops, panel discussions, and forums, the Please allow me to congratulate the Documentary Media Society’s Festival contributes to Vancouver’s cultural and economic vitality . Board and staff, the artists whose work will be screened over the On behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Government next 10 days, DOXA volunteers and supporters for a successful of Canada, I am pleased to support the DOXA Documentary Film 2009 DOXA! Festival . Many thanks to the organizers and other partners and con- Sincerely, gratulations to all the filmmakers whose works are being screened .

The Honourable James Moore Don Shumka Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages Chair, BC Arts Council

It brings me great pleasure to offer For nearly a decade, DOXA has my warmest Greetings on behalf of distinguished itself as a venue for the City of Vancouver, to everyone independent and truly groundbreak- attending the DOXA Documentary ing documentaries . As we cele- Film Festival . brate our 70th anniversary at the National Film Board of Canada, our Documentary film plays an in- commitment to socially engaged dispensable role in bringing new filmmaking is as strong as ever . issues, concerns and human experiences to public attention . This As Canada’s public film producer year’s festival, like those that have and distributor, we’re happy to once gone before, brings a remarkable again present the Colin Low Award new series of films, both local and international . Vancouver’s film for Best Canadian Documentary here at the festival — part of our and television production industry is one of the strongest in North mission of telling the stories that matter to Canadians and nurturing America and programs like DOXA offer an important showcase for our country’s tremendous filmmaking talent . documentary productions . We’re also thrilled to launch a new online Screening Room at Vancouver City Council is pleased to once again be a sponsor of NFB .ca, where you can watch and share over 1000 productions . this year’s program . Have a great festival . Enjoy, and have a great festival! Yours truly,

Tom Perlmutter Gregor Robertson Government Film Commissioner and Chairperson of the National Mayor Film Board of Canada

Welcome from DOXA

Welcome from the Chair of the Board It’s my pleasure to welcome you all to the 2009 DOXA Documentary Film Festival . In challenging times it’s often the arts that provide a source of comfort and consolation for people and the beauty of documentary film is that it not only entertains, but also has the power to educate, inspire and motivate us to action .

The strength of a film festival is in the programming and the program for 2009 is exceptional . This year’s festival is an expanded festival, not only in length but the number of films and screenings as well . Moving from a 6 to a 10 day festival, featuring more than 70 films, was a logical step in DOXA’s evolution . DOXA has been blessed with a loyal audience since its inception and that audience has continued to grow every year . It was on the strength of this loyalty and support that our decision for expansion was made . The remarkable growth in recent years in the popularity of documentary film in general also inspired us .

This past year also saw the Documentary Media Society hire its first Executive Director, Joni Cooper . Joni will be, and has been, an instru- mental part of the DOXA team and will be an invaluable resource as the festival continues to evolve .

I’d like to acknowledge all the DOXA staff for their dedication and hard work, the DOXA Board and the many dedicated volunteers, and our sponsors, donors and funders . As the old saying goes, without you we’re nothing .

Enjoy the festival, and thank you for your support .

Stacy Leblanc, DOXA Board Chair

Welcome from the Executive Director I am thrilled to welcome you to the 2009 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, my first festival as Executive Director . I was drawn to DOXA because of its mission to ensure that documentaries themselves, the issues and the content, remain the focus . What lured me aboard is the integrity, passion, and commitment the board and staff exuded from the very first meeting . It quickly became clear to me that at DOXA, content truly is king . And this year especially, I think you’ll agree .

Partnerships are integral to ensure that content remains front and centre in that they allow us to bring issues and inspiration to diverse communities, more so than any one organization can do working alone . A greater part of DOXA’s success lies in the importance and recognition given to partnerships from local community partners, sponsors and donors to national and international organizations . I’d like to thank all of DOXA’s partners for joining us to help spread the word . And I’d like to thank the filmmakers and their subjects for bringing us their stories and sharing their experiences .

Words cannot describe the dedication I’ve witnessed while working at DOXA . My amazing colleagues and hard-working board of directors and committee members relinquish much of their time to further this vital event . And a huge thank you to the many volunteers who ensure the festival runs smoothly . We certainly couldn’t do it without you! I have been inspired by my experiences these past few months and I hope you feel inspired by what you see at DOXA 2009 . Thank you so much for your interest and support!

Joni Cooper, Executive Director

Welcome from the Director of Programming I’m excited to welcome you to ten days of astonishing, innovative documentary film . This is a year of great change at DOXA: a new Executive Director, new programs and a larger festival .

From the poignant opening film Inside Hana’s Suitcase by Canadian Larry Weinstein, to the sublime closing film Act of God by Canadian Jennifer Baichwal, DOXA is showcasing some of the finest films you’ll see anywhere . From music to politics, sports to swingers’ clubs, women’s rights to the environment, suspense to humour, I’m confident that we have something for everyone at this year’s festival .

As DOXA’s contribution to closing the filmmaking gender gap, the Connexions Youth Forum is being offered to a group of aspiring, young women filmmakers this year . A partnership with the National Film Board, Connexions is nurturing the filmmakers of tomorrow . We have also initiated a high school program, Rated Y for Youth, bringing students to DOXA as part of their school program . Also new is an enhanced partnership with Planet in Focus International Environmental Film Festival .

My heartfelt thanks to the Screening and Programming Committees, my brilliant colleagues at DOXA, as well as this year’s curators, jurors and panelists for their vast contributions . Thank you to the filmmakers for their artistry and commitment . Thank you to those in the films who share their lives with us . Theirs are the moving and inspiring stories that don’t make the news . Finally, thank you for being here — I hope you enjoy your experience at DOXA .

Kris Anderson, Director of Programming

Awards DOXA award winners are selected on the basis of three major criteria: success and innovation in the realization of the project’s concept; originality and relevance of subject matter and approach; and overall artistic and technical proficiency .

DOXA Feature Documentary Award – JURORS

Betsy Carson is a Vancouver producer with 20 years experience in documentary film and television . She works with directors Nettie Wild, Hugh Brody and Gary Marcuse, and for the last three years has been co-executive producing several feature docs with Mark Achbar . Betsy Carson currently holds the position of Co-Vice Chair of the Documentary Organization of Canada .

Selwyn Jacob joined the National Film Board in 1997 as Cultural Diversity Producer . Based in Vancouver, his most recent productions include Baljit Sangra’s Warrior Boyz, Kamala Todd’s Indigenous Plant Diva, Writing the Land directed by Kevin Lee Burton, and River of Life directed by Werner Walcher . He also produced the Leo Award winning The Journey of Lesra Martin, and Jeni LeGon: Living in a Great Big Way .

Fiona Tinwei Lam is a Scottish-born, Vancouver-based writer and former lawyer . Her book, Intimate Distances, was a finalist for the City of Vancouver Book Award . Twice short-listed for the Event literary non-fiction prize, she is a co-editor of and contributor to Double Lives: Writing and Mothering, published in 2008 by McGill-Queen’s University Press . Her new collection of poetry, Enter the Chrysanthemum, has just been published by Caitlin Press .

DOXA Short Documentary Award – JURORS

Alex Mackenzie has been a media artist for 15 years with a focus on expanded cinema and light projection . He was founder and curator of the Edison Electric Gallery of Moving Images, the Blinding Light!! Cinema and the Vancouver Underground Film Festival . His live media works are presented at festivals throughout Europe and North America . He is currently designing handmade film emulsions and manually-powered projection devices for installation and performance .

Bo Myers is a director working in film and video . Her film The Indelible Print was featured at the Commonwealth Games and received an award in Mexico City . Tiny Bubbles has screened internationally, including the Melbourne International Film Festival and the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival . A sampling of internationally exhibited commissions includes Picture@ Platform and Blossom .

Terra Poirier’s award-winning films ponder themes of mothering, queerness and mental health, and have screened at festivals around the world . She has taught video production through the Vancouver Queer Film Festival, the Gulf Islands Film & Television School and the Access to Media Education Society . Terra additionally enjoys fighting the power and making buttons, books, prints and other fanciful things .

The National Film Board COLIN LOW Award Prize: Filmmaker Assistance Fund (FAP), technical services (valued at $3,000) Named for Colin Low, a tireless innovator and a pioneer of new techniques in filmmaking who has made extraordinary contributions to cinema in Canada and around the world . This award is presented by the NFB to the most innovative Canadian film at DOXA .

JURORS Glace Lawrence has worked in Toronto and Vancouver’s film and television industries since the late 80s . In 1999, her one- hour doc Coming to Voice received a Reel Black Award from the Black Film & Video Network . In 2005 Glace developed and produced a one-hour drama with Gerry Atwell for Vision TV entitled Hotel Babylon . She currently line produces the HGTV Canada/USA series The Stagers for Paperny Films .

Leah Mallen is an established producer of documentary and dramatic films based in Vancouver, BC . Her films have garnered awards at many international festivals including Cannes (Shoes off!) and Zurich (Hammer & Tickle) . She helms the company Twofold Films, and is currently producing a documentary for Knowledge Network called Desolation/Utopia . She is also the co-Chair for DOC BC .

Doreen Manuel is of Secwepemc and Ktunuxa ancestry and is a member of the Neskonlith Band in Chase BC . She gradu- ated from the Aboriginal Film & Television program and currently is Program Coordinator in the Indigenous Independent Digital Filmmaking program at Capilano University, as well as Canadian correspondent of Northwest Indian News and owner of Running Wolf Productions .

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British Columbia Teachers’ Federation Proud sponsor of the new “Rated Y for Youth” program. www.bctf.ca DOXA Youth Programs Thank you to the following supporters and donors who contributed so generously to our 2008 Fundraiser Connexions Youth Forum The Documentary Media Society is proud to present the 4th annual Connexions Youth Forum, an educational program designed and [yellow tail] Knowledge dedicated to fostering documentary filmmaking and storytelling Rafal Andronowski Kokopelli skills in youth between 19 and 26 years of age . In partnership with Arts Club Theatre Eve Leader the National Film Board of Canada, Connexions immerses young Avid Sarah Leavitt aspiring documentary filmmakers through workshops, mentoring Ballet BC Fred Lee sessions and attendance at the DOXA Festival . BC Bookworld Lucy Mae Brown Each year, the Forum focuses on a demographic that faces bar- bed Mexicana riers and has limited access to documentary filmmaking . This year Bernettes Mimi & Marge the emphasis is placed on gender equality . The BC Institute of Black Fly Beverage Company moulé Film Professionals 2005 report on Women’s Labour Issues states Burrowing Owl Karen Mumby “…women film professionals are seriously under-represented in Capers Whole Foods Market Music On Main certain occupations, especially at higher levels ”. To help address Capilano Performing Arts National Film Board the disparity, DOXA put out a call to young women with basic film Theatre New Age Marketing / training, who have a desire to work in the documentary form . Century Santa Cruz Organic sodas Chow Nokia DOXA and the National Film Board are pleased to welcome: Coast Hotel & Resorts Ouno Design Magnal Bansal, Dominique Basi, Genevieve Cloutier, Jessica Gates, Cobre Out On Screen Ingrid Nilson and Sarah Wong . Deep Cove Canoe & Kayak Pacific Cinémathèque These young women will participate in a 9-day intensive work- Delta Burnaby Hotel Graham Peat & Videomatica shop that focuses on the art of storytelling using digital media . The Dennis Duffy & Royal BC Playhouse Theatre Company Forum also provides the opportunity for participants to network Museum, BC Archives Portland International with each other and experienced filmmakers throughout the week EA Film Festival as they create their own documentary project that will screen on EasyPark Precision Media the closing night of the DOXA Festival . Embassy Suites Mexico City – pure nail bar Reforma Sandhill Connexions Partner Eros & Isis, Loving Sea to Sky Air Inspiration Inc . Sony Ethical Bean Soulflower Executive Suites Garibaldi Storm Brewing Springs Subeez Rated Y for Youth Festival Distribution Sutton Place Hotel DOXA is pleased to announce Rated Y for Youth (RYY), a new pro- Stan Fox Tapastree gram dedicated to creating enhanced opportunities for high school Margaret Gallagher Tech 1 students (ages 12-18) to participate at the festival . While there has Geist The Lab been informal school participation at previous DOX A festivals, Rated George Tripzter Travel Y for Youth formalizes student involvement . This year, we invited Georgia Straight Vancouver Art Gallery more than 50 schools from around the Lower Mainland to attend Dina Goldstein Vancouver Canadians screenings and participate in post-film discussions . The goal of RYY Grouse Mountain Vancouver Folk Music Festival is to promote media literacy and critical dialogue to a new genera- Halfmoon Yoga Products Vancouver Giants tion, through non-fiction, media arts . DOXA has selected programs Hapa Izakaya Vancouver International specifically for high school students, giving them an opportunity Harbour Air Seaplanes Film Festival to attend the festival, view thought-provoking documentaries, and Suzo Hickey Vancouver Opera learn to critically analyze the films and the world around them . Veda Hille Vancouver Recital Society RYY films include: Afghan Girls Can Kick, Chasing Wild Horses, Hollyhock Vancouver Review Inside Hana’s Suitcase and To The Tar Sands . All of these films Honeysuckle Rose Cottage Vancouver Symphony are classified for youth and are also open to the general public (no Hotel Grand Pacific Orchestra membership required) . HOTSON BAKKER BONIFACE VIA Rail HADEN architects WaaZuBee Rated Y for Youth Partners Lee Hutzulak Wild Rice International Wine Cellars Douglas Williams JD’s Barbershop Marnie Wilson John Fluevog Arleigh Wood Jupiter Hotel Zuka Artful Accessories Kingfisher Resort & Spa 15

Friday May 22 7:30 pm G7 Opening Night film

Inside Hana’s Suitcase Larry Weinstein, Canada, 2008, 93 minutes

One day Fumiko Ishioka, the coordinator of the Tokyo Holocaust Children in Japan and Toronto, who have been moved by Hana and Education Centre, received a battered suitcase with the name George’s experiences, narrate the film . Inside Hana’s Suitcase is Hana Brady and the word ‘Waisenkind’ (orphan) painted on the told with immense grace, but packs a serious emotional punch . front . She had no idea that this suitcase would set her on a journey Through the small window of one little girl’s experience, the impact that would not only change her life, but also the lives of thousands of the Holocaust hits home . Hana’s suitcase has become an endur- of children around the world . With the help of her young students ing symbol of love and courage, and a potent reminder of the need (called the Small Wings), Fumiko decided to discover all she could to stand up to intolerance and hatred . Her story, standing in for the about a little girl named Hana . many children silenced and lost forever to history, is a poignant Her quest to put a face to a name and an old suitcase took her to lesson from the past to the future . “Somehow the story was meant the Czech Republic, where Hana was born in 1931, in the small vil- to be told,” says George . We are the better for it . lage of Nove Mesto . When the Nazis invaded, Hana’s parents were imprisoned and she was sent to a concentration camp in the walled Second screening of Inside Hana’s Suitcase: city of Theresienstadt . In secret art classes, held without the per- Monday, May 25, 1:00 pm, Pacific Cinémathèque . mission of the Nazi guards, children like Hana drew what they saw and what they remembered of life before the war . These images, Filmmaker in attendance at both screeninGS . of picnics, swaying trees, and people holding hands, prompted Fumiko to go even further . Her search eventually led to Auschwitz, Classified for younger audiences. No membership required. where Hana’s name was marked with a single check mark, meaning she had died at the camp . But just above Hana’s name, another name was inscribed: George Brady, who had survived the war . Presenting partner Presenting media partners Not only had he survived, he was alive, well, and living in Toronto, with a passel of children and grandchildren of his own . George was Hana’s older brother .

Director Larry Weinstein’s stunning new documentary brings Hana Community Partners and George’s remarkable story to life using dramatic recreations, family photographs, a gorgeously orchestrated soundtrack, and interviews with the people who knew and loved Hana .

Saturday May 30 7:30 pm G7 Closing Night Film

Act of God Jennifer Baichwal, Canada, 2009, 75 minutes

When writer Paul Auster was 14 years-old, he stood beside his The film features a terrific soundtrack from musician Fred Frith . He friend Ralph as he was struck and killed by lightning . They were on wasn’t actually struck by lightning, but his neurons make their own a Boy Scout hike . “There’s something monumental about a light- electrical storm while he plays guitar . Act of God is a mysterious, ning bolt coming from the sky, it doesn’t feel like an ordinary death, discursive, and sublimely beautiful meditation on meaning and the it has something of the divine about it,” says Auster . lack thereof .

The human need to make sense of a random and wildly unpredict- “It changed my whole way of looking at the world,” says Paul able universe flows through director Jennifer Baichwal’s new docu- Auster, who credits his experience as the reason he became a mentary Act of God. The film explores not only the phenomena of writer . “The mechanics of reality, there’s no meaning to this, it’s lightning and the experiences of people who lived through being absolutely meaningless, yet this is the way the world works ”. struck (and those who did not), but poses metaphysical questions Filmmaker in attendance that have confounded human beings since the beginning of con- scious thought .

As one woman unintentionally puns, being struck by lightning is much more than ‘a bad shock ’. From the advent of human society, it has occupied a symbolic role as a means of transformation and the genesis of all life . In Yoruba beliefs, it is a gift to humankind from the god Shango . To an ex-marine who was declared clinically dead for twenty-eight minutes, after being struck by lighting through the telephone, it was a means of spiritual rebirth . “Lightning and change go hand in hand, and in a single moment I was changed,” he says . To others, it is a far less beneficent force . A man who lived Major Partner through the death of his friend Dino, who was essentially cooked from the inside out, recounts the experience in horrifying detail .

19 Saturday May 23 12:00 PM PC

Movies Just Aren’t The Same Without It A Dream for Kabul Philippe Baylaucq, Canada, 2008, 81 minutes

In September 2001, Haruhiro Shiratori lost his son, Atsushi, in the New York City World Trade Center attacks . In the wake of this tragedy, many withdrew into their grief or talked of revenge . But Shiratori wanted to give meaning to his son’s death, so he decided to travel from Japan to Afghanistan to connect with ordinary people Now Available at: in an attempt to end the cycle of violence . This idealistic quest, one Vancity Theatre 1181 Seymour Street destined to encounter any number of obstacles, begins with an 5th Avenue Cinemas 2110 Burrard Street Park Theatre 3440 Cambie St unusual step: Shiratori decides to learn magic tricks . Ridge Theatre 3131 Arbutus Street With a flourish of the hand, he makes scarves disappear before www.cityreelsmagazine.com the amazed eyes of onlookers, whether young or old, Afghan, Japanese, or American . Magic becomes a secret weapon, as Shiratori negotiates his way around the language barrier . Even the saddest child in an Afghanistan hospital bed cracks a smile when he performs his tricks .

Over four years and across three continents, filmmaker Philippe Baylaucq accompanies Shiratori, documenting his quest to build a cultural centre for the children of Kabul . Everywhere he goes, he preaches, persuades, and relentlessly fundraises . Shiratori speaks about the suffering of Afghan children . He remembers his own war-torn childhood in Japan and looking at the children of Kabul, he sees himself, a child in a bombed-out city . The memory still haunts him .

His idea is to build a park, in commemoration of his son, on a hill overlooking Kabul . The plans are drawn up by one of Japan’s greatest architects, Kishô Kurokawa, who offers his services for free . They include areas where people can assemble, a school, a water reservoir, and a garden of 911 Sakura cherry trees: a place where the cultures of Japan and Afghanistan can meet .

It’s not just love for his lost son that drives Shiratori on, but his hope for the future of humanity and harmony between nations . Certainly, his quest is reminiscent of many Western interventions in Afghanistan, packed with good intentions and booby-trapped at every step . But one thing is certain: the world needs magic more than ever, and Haruhiro Shiratori is fiercely determined to provide it .

community Partner Saturday May 23 12:30 PM VT Saturday May 23 1:30 PM VT

FORUM: Underrepresented – Women Behind the Camera

In a recent study on women in the British Columbian film industry, statistics showed that women are significantly underrepresented in the positions of writer, director, and director of photography . What are the barriers facing women in filmmaking? This forum puts the issue of gender squarely on the table for discussion with veteran, mid-career, and emerging documentary filmmakers .

Moderator Rina Fraticelli is an independent documentary producer and writer whoseThe Real credits Place have garnered multiple awards . As Executive Produ- cer of Studio D, the National Film Board’s groundbreaking women’s Shooting Women studio, she oversaw the production of numerous landmark films . From 2002 to 2006, she was Executive Producer of the NFB Pacific Alexis Krasilovsky, USA, 2008, 54 minutes and Yukon Studio . Fraticelli currently produces Women in View 2010, Shooting Women features over fifty women cinematographers and a global multi-disciplinary forum and festival of women in media . directors from around the world . It was shot over a period of six Participants years by pioneering filmmaker and cinema studies professor Alexis Karen Cho is a Montreal-based filmmaker interested in documen- Krasilovsky . And it celebrates the amazing talent and unflinching tary and other narrative forms . Karen’s films often recount untold spirit of image-making women, from the sets of Hollywood and histories and explore themes of immigration, activism, identity, and Bollywood to the war zones of Afghanistan . social justice . Karen is interested in using film as a tool for social de- This internationally-acclaimed documentary, based on Krasilovsky’s bate . She has received several awards for her work and her recent book ‘Women Behind the Camera,’ broaches the persistent issues film Seeking Refuge has its Western Canadian festival premiere at encountered by women in film . From the glass ceiling, sexual DOXA this year . harassment, childcare for professional camerawomen around the Moira Simpson’s work as an award-winning freelance director, globe, and working in environments where raising such issues is cinematographer and editor spans thirty years . The subjects of her seen as ‘unprofessional ’. films range from strife in Kosovo, to youth drug addiction, to aid in Seasoned film professionals tell incredible stories of working under Africa . She was recently Director of Photography on Finding Dawn, intolerable conditions of harassment, intimidation, and sexual on the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women assault . Names of a few well-known men are dropped and some across Canada . As filmmaker in residence withFearless City Mobile bitter truths are laid on the table . Krasilovsky’s ambitious endeavor and W2, Mo is currently exploring mobile phone video technology . paints a portrait of a historically male-dominated profession with Kamala Todd is a Métis-Cree/German filmmaker, community progress still being made at a snail’s pace . While today some may planner, and mother, with a Master’s degree in urban geography . view the film industry as progressive, the boys’ club reigns and She was Aboriginal Social Planner for the City of Vancouver for six women are an extremely small minority as cinematographers and years . She writes and directs for the APTN children’s Cree tele- directors . vision series Nehiyawetan . Her most recent film, Indigenous Plant With wide-ranging access and rich diversity, Shooting Women Diva (NFB), premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival . offers insight from top directors of photography like Ellen Kuras Kamala is creator and director of Storyscapes, a multimedia Aborig- (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Sandi Sissel (Salaam inal community arts project . Bombay!), as well as Canadian cinematographers Zoe Dirse and Aerlyn Weissman has worked on films from Hollywood to the Joan Hutton . The film also tells the story of groundbreaking women Himalayas . As a writer/director she has won two Genie awards like African-American Jessie Maple Patton, who sued the American and made films on a wide range of topics from forensic archaeol- union and networks for the right to work . From historic footage of ogy and digital technologies, to censorship and social issues . She Mao’s travels from China’s first camerawoman and secretly filmed recently received a Master’s degree in digital media . Whether she beatings of women in Afghanistan, to clips of horror, Hollywood, is creating data visualizations or shooting historical recreations, her and experimental films, viewers get a glimpse of how women signature approach involves a seamless blend of documentary, behind the camera are changing the world of filmmaking . digital and dramatic elements .

Followed by a public forum: Underrepresented – Women Behind This forum follows the screening of Shooting Women . the Camera. Forum is free of charge.

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·C]QbdRedcUhid__¸ DXU7\_RUQ^T=QY\ Shots in the Dark Lina B. Moreco, Canada, 2008, 85 minutes

The incidence of autism in the United States is currently estimated at 1 out of every 150 children . These staggering statistics are made flesh in director Lina B . Moreco’s documentary Shots in the Dark .

The recommended number of vaccinations for children has doubled in the last quarter century . Beginning at 12 hours of age and continuing throughout early childhood, most kids receive over 48 doses of 14 different vaccines before they reach age 6 . Some of these vaccines contain mercury, aluminum, and other assorted neurotoxins . Parents who have experienced the repercussions of vaccinations gggfQ^S_efUbbUfYUgS_] reveal the true scope of the problem . “I wish I hadn’t listened to the doctor, who said you have to vaccinate your child,” says the mother of twin boys, one whom developed severe autism after receiving his MMR shot (Measles Mumps Rubella) . In addition to the families who have been affected by vaccine injury, pediatricians and researchers offer their own experiences . They reveal that many doctors have little knowledge about the potential side-effects of thimerosal (mercury), lead, and other additives in vaccines .

While the medical profession maintains that more vaccinations equal better public health, the evidence is often sorely lacking . Exposure to mercury and aluminum is still little understood, and the repercussions of injecting extremely young children with intensely toxic materials even less so . It remains to be determined whether the stunning rise in rates of autism, multiple sclerosis, encephalitis, paralysis, and many other neuropathies is directly attributable to increased vaccinations . But what is explicitly clear is that much more research must be undertaken .

Far from rejecting the documented benefits of vaccination, Shots in the Dark makes very clear that, in the name of the greater good, great suffering has been inflicted on the most vulnerable members of society . And the film asks the necessary question, at what point is this trade-off unacceptable?

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Robinsons of Mantsinsaari Hair India Victor Asliuk, Belarus, 2008, 56 minutes Raffaele Brunetti and Marco Leopardi, Italy, 2008, 75 minutes

Robinsons of Mantsinsaari tells the story of two men, the only Hair India tells a story about beauty in today’s globalized economy . people now living on a Russian-controlled island on Lake Ladoga . In a village in the Federal state of West Bengal, Gita offers her Although they are the sole inhabitants on the island of Mantsinsaari, medium-length hair in the Hindu temple . Her family has no money neither speaks to the other . One of the men is of Belarusian origin, or jewels but, by cutting her hair off, she earns the respect of the other of Finnish origin . Between them, there is a long history . the entire village . Her healthy hair is a precious possession . Until recently, hair donated to temples like Gita’s was usually swept With stunning cinematography and a dose of humour, the film up and burned or used to stuff mattresses . In today’s irony-laden observes the last two human residents of the island, lingering on economy, companies like Rome’s Great Lengths collect that hair nature, the daily routines of the men, and the activities of their ani- and spin it into hair extension gold . mals . In this beautiful natural environment, their irreplaceable animals fulfill the function of friends and family for the men . Although Great Lengths’ extensions are considered to be the ‘Rolls Royce’ the men don’t socialize together, the elder man’s dog runs between of hair extensions — thanks in no small part to the rows and rows both homes carrying on his own relationships . Occasionally, the of workers in a Bangalore factory who pick through and process younger of the two men climbs up a hill during the evening to see mountains of hair by hand . The extensions are then shipped to Italy if the light is still burning at his neighbour’s house . for Great Lengths to distribute to beauty salons all over the world . Driving their sales is an international marketing and publicity opera- Both residents have lived on the island for over twenty years, with- tion, pushing prices of installed Great Lengths sets into several out speaking to each other for much of that time . Matti and Kluynya thousand dollars for the Christina Aguileras and Jessica Simpsons are both faithful citizens of their home . As long as they live, their of the world . small state will be called ‘the inhabited island Mantsinsaari ’. This beautifully crafted film provides us with the great assurance that Enter Sangeeta, the successful editor for the celebrity gossip mag- the art of documentary filmmaking is alive and well . azine ‘Hello!’, India edition . As part of Mumbai’s growing upper- middle class, Sangeeta treats herself to a set of Great Lengths Preceded by: extensions before a television interview, a round of fashion shows, Ma’rib – Traces of Stones and a few nights out . Hair India provides a kaleidoscopic look at Rainer Komers, Germany, 2008, 30 minutes today’s India and the complex interplay between a rapidly modern- Ma’rib is the second installation in a tetralogy that examines izing economy and ancient ideas and traditions . destroyed cities, with each film connected to one of the four elements . Ma’rib is ‘earth’ in the form of sand, soil, and stone . The city is 150 kilometres east of Yemen’s capital, where the mountains meet the Rhub al-Khali desert . Four thousand diesel pumps irri- gate the oasis and a new power station will supply mass electricity . Without dialogue or narration, the film’s stark offering of habits, rhythms, and gestures of a rugged country zigzags between sociological observation and sudden poetry .

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The Queen and I Milking the Rhino Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Germany/Sweden/Egypt/France/ David E. Simpson, USA, 2008, 83 minutes USA, 2008, 89 minutes A ferocious kill on the Serengeti… dire warnings about endangered In her award-winning documentary Prostitution Behind the Veil, species… These clichés of nature documentaries ignore a key Nahid Persson Sarvestani expressed fierce criticism of the position feature of the landscape: villagers just off-camera, who navigate of women in her native country, Iran . This drove the Islamic regime the dangers and costs of living with wildlife on a daily basis . When to accuse the leftist documentary-maker of monarchist sympa- seen at all, rural Africans are often depicted as the problem; they thies . The reality is, however, that Sarvestani was a revolutionary poach animals and encroach on habitat . They spoil our myth of who helped overthrow the monarchy in the 1979 revolution . wild Africa .

In reaction to the reprimands, she decided to make a film about Milking the Rhino tells a more nuanced tale of human-wildlife Farah Pahlavi: the last Iranian queen, widow of the Shah of Iran, her coexistence in post-colonial Africa . The Maasai tribe of Kenya and adversary who, like herself, lives in exile abroad . Namibia’s Himba, two of Earth’s oldest cattle cultures, are in the midst of upheaval . Emerging from a century of ‘white man con- This leads to a fascinating encounter between two women, with servation,’ which turned their lands into game reserves and fueled clashing political visions, who develop an improbable friendship resentment towards wildlife, Himba and Maasai communities are over two years of filming . During that period, the two confront each now vying for a piece of the wildlife-tourism pie . other about their pasts, question their former beliefs, and share their grievances . Community-based conservation, which tries to balance the needs of wildlife and people, has been touted by environmentalists as However, when the queen finds out that Sarvestani was a commu- ‘win-win ’. The reality is more complex . “We never used to benefit nist (and hadn’t disclosed that), the filming stopped for six months . from these animals,” a Maasai host of a community eco-lodge After Farah sees the trailer and approves, shooting resumes . explains . “Now we milk them like cattle!” His neighbor disagrees: Perhaps out of fear that the 70 year-old former queen will refuse “A rhino means nothing to me! I can’t kill it for meat like a cow ”. further cooperation, Sarvestani doesn’t ask confrontational ques- And when drought decimates the grass shared by livestock and tions about the Shah’s heartless regime . She also feels conflicted wildlife, the community’s commitment to conservation is sorely about her growing affection for a woman whose husband she so tested . vehemently opposed . Charting the collision of ancient ways with Western expectations, In the end, the unusual relationship grows between the two as they Milking the Rhino tells intimate, hopeful, and heartbreaking stories realize they have much in common . They are two strong women of people facing deep cultural change . who have risen above hardships to continue evolving towards a positive future .

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Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love Nobody’s Perfect Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, USA, 2008, 102 minutes Niko von Glasow, Germany, 2008, 84 minutes

Arguably the most famous African musician of all time, once Niko von Glasow was exposed to the drug Thalidomide in the described by Rolling Stone magazine as ‘a singer with a voice so womb . As a result he was born with phocomelia, a birth defect extraordinary the history of Africa seems locked inside it,’ Youssou in which the bones of the arms and legs are very short or entirely N’Dour bridges two worlds; he is both an international pop star absent . “The first thing people react to when they meet me is how and a West African griot (traditional musical storyteller) . Over I look,” says Niko . “…All my life I’ve tried not to think about my the past thirty years N’Dour has collaborated with superstars like disability, tried to ignore the truth ”. Now, instead of hiding, Niko Bono, Neneh Cherry, and Peter Gabriel, while touring and perform- decides to uncover everything and pose naked with eleven other ing incessantly before millions of passionate fans . An advocate for adult Thalidomide survivors, for a photo shoot . human rights, the Grammy-winning tenor has become an inspira- Each person chronicled in Nobody’s Perfect is uniquely different, tion for millions . and in a series of frank conversations, they talk about growing up in A devout Sufi Muslim, in 2004 N’Dour released ‘Egypt’, a deeply a world that had little use for them . The film deals with the complex personal and religiously expressive album . Through this music, he aspects of disability; sexuality, family, self-hatred, even thoughts of aimed to promote a more tolerant face of Islam . It was a bold move suicide . But the most interesting aspect of Niko’s film is how each at a time when so much dialogue in the West about Islam centred person copes with their disability . Blunt humour and honesty helps on Islamofascism and religious intolerance . At home in Senegal, disperse what one man calls ‘the orgy of compassion ’. N’Dour faced a totally different problem . He was criticized for As the photo shoot draws closer, the participants’ nerves begin performing and releasing his album during Ramadan and, almost to show . But when the towels finally drop and the camera begins instantly, conservative Senegalese rejected the album . It was to roll, something unexpected happens . From the image of one denounced as blasphemous; he simply wasn’t religious enough . woman leaping naked in midair, to Niko’s young son laughing and Merchants quickly returned their copies and N’Dour became a pointing at his father’s penis, the joy and beauty of each individual centre of controversy . Director Chai Vasarhelyi and her crew follow shines forth . When the photos are displayed in a public exhibition, N’Dour over the course of two years, filming events and concerts they provoke surprising reactions . What emerges is a remarkable in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and America . She tells the story portrait of the human spirit in all its glorious imperfection . of how an unflappable N’Dour faces these challenges and eventually wins over audiences both at home and abroad . Preceded by: Ivan and Loriana Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love opens the door to a life that Stefano Cattini, Italy, 11 minutes, 2008 began humbly, out of traditions and the human desire to share one’s A beautiful portrait of two deaf children in nursery school . Ivan and joy of music, and rose to become one of Time Magazine’s 100 Loriana communicate with ‘child signs’, but the nuns want the chil- Most Influential People in the World . N’Dour’s unwavering warmth dren to speak . Sweet Ivan loves playing with mischievous Loriana, and astonishing talent in concert will be a wonderful surprise for who roars like a lioness when she is fed up with practicing in front first-time listeners and a great treat for his many fans . of a mirror .

Winner, Special Jury Prize, Middle East International Film Festival Sound Shadows Winner, Audience Award, São Paulo International Film Festival Julie Engaas, Norway, 2008, 7 minutes ‘Many people think that I live in darkness, but before my eyes there is nothing . Just air ’. An award-winning animated short exploring the perceptions of a blind woman .

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…And Music Ex-voto for Three Souls Michel Lam, Canada, 2008, 75 minutes Diego Rivera Kohn, Canada/Mexico, 2008, 45 minutes

At the Sacré-Cœur School in Sherbrooke, Quebec, music is not In Mexico, many men and women live within the fragility of a pre- just a subject, it is the only subject . It infuses every aspect of carious existence, hoping for a miracle to change their destiny . But education, from math to physical education . Director Michel Lam’s for miracles to occur, one must stand firm in one’s beliefs, despite exquisitely made documentary is filled with the gentle rhythms of life’s uncertain outcome . life in the classroom; you can almost smell the chalk dust hang- Ex-voto for Three Souls weaves together the stories of three people ing in the air . Lam, himself an alumnus of Sacré-Cœur, returns to who share a deep reliance on faith as they wait for a miracle to follow three students over the course of one year . unfold . Cristian, a young man literally trying to fight his way out of On the first day of school, the stillness of an empty classroom poverty, places every hope in winning a championship title that will is broken by the sound of a solitary cello . But as the kids arrive establish him as a professional boxer . Meanwhile, eighty year-old from their summer holidays, the hallways begin to reverberate María-Teresa searches deep within herself for the faith to enlighten with sound . While older students are out of practice, kindergarten her doctors as they prepare for her surgery to prevent another students are fitted with tiny instruments . Alexis is learning to play heart attack . Luis, the fisherman, serenely awaits the end of food the violin and to ride the school bus . Rachel, sporting a mouthful shortages and for fish to finally succumb to his net . of braces, listens to Shania Twain; she has little use for classical With a languid mise-en-scene reminiscent of a Frederick Wiseman music . Anne-Catherine, between childhood and teenagehood, film and brilliant transitions that would inspireE rrol Morris, Ex-voto clings to the solidity of her cello . As the school year moves from for Three Souls is documentary making at its best . Director Diego fall, to winter, to spring, the kids prepare for the final concert, and Rivera Kohn sweeps the viewer into the mental states of Cristian, the excitement and sadness of the year’s end resounds . María-Teresa, and Luis: three fighters who never abandon the Imbued with a warmth that neither sentimentalizes nor belittles its dreams that keep them alive . In this way, the film reveals the tran- small subjects, …And Music is a thoughtful look at how learning scendental aim in each person’s existence: the capacity to imagine an instrument informs every level of education, adding a depth of that destiny can change . meaning and possibility . Filmmaker in attendance Preceded by: Preceded by: The Happiness Project Slaves Christopher Mills, Canada, 2009, 6 minutes Hanna Heilborn & David Aronowitsch, Sweden, 2008, 15 mins The natural cadence of peoples’ speech can sometimes carry “We were abducted — my mother, father, sister and me . They beautiful melodies . Charles Spearin, a founding member of the rock killed my parents and separated me from my sister,” Abouk tells us collective Broken Social Scene, interviewed his Toronto neighbours in a low voice . Slaves is an animated film about nine year old Abouk looking for those ‘accidental’ melodies . He then arranged them into and fifteen year old Machiek who, like thousands of children, were songs based loosely on the theme of happiness . kidnapped by government-sponsored militia in Sudan . Though their horrific experiences are raw, the children have dreams for the future and when asked what they would like to be when they grow up, they reply; ‘teacher’ and ‘doctor’ .

Winner, Best Short Documentary, IDFA

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The Art of the Short Documentary Planet In Focus co-presents

Virtuoso Eternal Mash Terry Stone, Canada, 2007, 9 minutes Catherine Van Campen, Netherlands, 2007, 53 minutes Virtuoso explores the mastery of the Theremin through Kamil Nasr, a young Vancouver musician reviving the first electronic instrument . Master Dutch horticulturist Ruurd Walrecht sorted, protected, and preserved the seeds of rare vegetables on the brink of extinction . Presidio Modelo One day he stopped, packed his collection, and disappeared some- Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, Canada, 2008, 15 minutes where in Sweden, along with his knowledge of these endangered The walls in the prison crumble, revealing a past that has been plant species . He has never been heard from again . Lamenting this covered by layers of thick yellow paint . loss is exceptional panoply of helpers who were part of an enter- prise driven by his mission: Reid De Jong, a Dutch version of a Le Parkour rugged individualist; Peter ten Bookum, a former graphic designer Eric Morrison, Canada, 2008, 8 minutes living a nomadic existence in the wilderness; Boele Ytsma, still Four young men demonstrate the excitement and danger in the mourning his colleague’s departure . Each is as unique as the exhilarating discipline of Parkour . extraordinary plants and vegetables they so lovingly nurture and Innocence on Ice cultivate . Beautifully rendered, this cinematic tour-de-force is a Astra Burka, Canada, 2004, 3 minutes celebration of rare authenticity in our world . A tribute to the movement and talent of world champion figure Preceded by: skater Petra Burka, using 1960s footage and original music inspired Intestines of the Earth by the performance . Olivier Barbier, France, 2006, 13 minutes Dexilsic Our ecosystem and biodiversity relies heavily on the intestines of Daniel Plante, Canada, 2009, 5 minutes the world: worms . The use of pesticides is seriously endanger- An artist with dyslexia explores life through her bold paintings . ing these vital creatures . Without their constant production and recycling of organic matter there will be severe repercussions on The World According to Traudl the planet . This surprising short film shows us this mechanism up Veronique Glorieux & Muriel Beasse, Canada, 2008, 14 minutes close and personal . In a small district of Munich a sparky woman runs a small store from another era . Planet in Focus produces Canada’s largest international envi- The Real Place ronmental film & video festival . We use creative environmentally Cam Christiansen, Canada, 2008, 5 minutes themed films/videos by Canadian and international filmmakers as Animator Cam Christiansen gives playwright John Murrell’s imagi- a catalyst for broad public awareness, discussion and appropriate nation free rein, suspending the laws of time and space, to create a action on the ecological and social health of the planet . Planet in visual accompaniment to Murrell’s flights of fancy . Focus has earned global recognition as a leader in environmental awareness education . Succo Pomodori Astra Burka, Canada, 2006, 3 minutes Our 10th anniversary festival runs An operatic homage to the Italian ladies who came to Canada and October 21-25, 2009 . Call for sub- still perform the tradition of making tomato sauce in the laneways missions closes June 26, 2009 . of Little Italy in Toronto . www planetinfocus. org.

Followed by a discussion on the art of the short documentary, facili- Special Event Partners community partner tated by Simon Fraser University film professor Colin Browne.

Filmmakers in attendance

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REGISTRATION BEGINS APRIL 16th 604.844.3810 [email protected] ecuad.ca/cs Sunday May 24 4:00 PM PC Sunday May 24 4:30 PM VT

Shining Stars The Meaning of Life Yael Kipper, Israel, 2008, 61 minutes Hugh Brody, Canada, 2008, 82 minutes preceded by The Meaning of Life takes us into an innovative program for reha- bilitating prisoners, a collaboration between the Chehalis Nation of Maytal British Columbia and Correctional Service of Canada . Filmed over Yael Kipper, Israel, 1997, 50 minutes the course of two years at Kwìkwèxwelhp (formerly known as the Elbow Lake Correctional Facility), the film exposes a different way On March 4th, 1996, in a crowded shopping district in downtown to look at the concepts underlying punishment and rehabilitation . It Tel-Aviv, a suicide bomber detonated a 20-kilogram nail bomb, proposes that, by including community in the process, the current killing 13 people . A young woman named Maytal was seriously prison system can be significantly changed . Director Hugh Brody wounded in the attack and her younger brother, Assaf, was killed was granted unparalleled access to prisoners and staff at the facil- instantly . Three months later, director Yael Kipper began docu- ity, as well as to the Chehalis Nation elders who run the program . menting Maytal’s life as she began coping with her new body and her new life . Badly burned, with one leg amputated mid-thigh, the Over half of the men at Kwìkwèxwelhp are from First Nations back- depth of Maytal’s trauma manifests itself in her blank, disassoci- grounds . The others have agreed to accept Aboriginal spirituality ated gaze . As she learns to walk with a prosthesis and frets about and community as central elements in rehabilitation programs . the state of her hair, which was mostly burnt off in the attack, Most of them are serving life sentences . The men followed in images from her past, in the form of family videos and pictures, this film have committed murders, armed robberies, and sexual reveal a very different young woman . Beautiful and carefree, she is assault . All the inmates are struggling to find meaning in lives that almost unrecognizable from the damaged person she has become . have gone agonizingly, terrifyingly wrong . One of the men asked Throughout her recovery, Maytal’s husband Steve bears the brunt the central question of the film in his own way: You commit your- of his wife’s inability to engage emotionally . As Maytal begins to self to death; you’ve taken away your life by taking a life… where recover physically, the slow dissolution of her marriage speaks to do I go from there? her far deeper wounds . In the film, we hear the voices of many who have never been heard, The film’s second installment, Shining Stars, begins nine years people who have lived in deep silences of the soul . Childhood later . Maytal has separated from Steve and is undergoing fertility abuse, experiences at residential schools, the violence of the treatments to have a baby as a single parent . Almost single-minded streets — the men speak openly and intimately about these ele- in her determination, she endures multiple procedures . In doing so, ments of their lives . They take us on a journey into what it means to she triggers memories that re-emerge with all their razor-edged be among the most disadvantaged, vulnerable, and violent popula- pain and grief . As Maytal is forced to come to terms with the tions in Canadian society . The pain of some men, when speaking impact of her brother’s death and her own inability to form a last- of their childhood, is palpable . ing relationship, the repercussions of tragedy are revealed . Shining The Meaning of Life asks the difficult question: is there a justice Stars traces the slow movement back to empathy and love, with system where we can find forgiveness and redemption? an astounding level of intimacy . Maytal does not spare herself from her own blunt honesty . Stubborn, harsh, and often not particularly Filmmakers in attendance likable, she nevertheless holds the screen through sheer force of personality . What emerges from her journey is a fascinating portrait of a woman who survived horror and somehow remade herself and her life, one slow step at a time .

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Sunday May 24 6:30 PM PC Sunday may 24 7:00 PM VT

Yodok Stories Soneros: The Sound of the River Andrzej Fidyk, Norway, 2008, 82 minutes Inti Cordera, Mexico, 2007, 76 minutes

In North Korea, the human capacity for cruelty has entered bizarre This visually and musically uplifting documentary explores the tra- new territory . The Yodok concentration camp houses more than dition of Mexican country music, called ‘Son Jarocho’, in the state 200,000 men, women and children, who are considered class of Veracruz, Mexico . Along the Tesechoacan River, the sound of enemies by the state . Entire families are sent to the camp, if ‘son’ music can be heard from many older musicians — their beau- even one member is suspected of seditious activity or thought . tiful songs plucked on battered guitars and carried on the wind as George Orwell, at his bleakest, could not have conceived of state- they play alongside the river . mandated horror on such a gargantuan scale . Director Andrzej Like so many communities globally, just as traditional music risks Fidyk first came to familiarity with the nature of North Korea while disappearance, young people are taking up a cultural revival, learn- making the documentary The Parade (1988) . It followed a massive ing from the elder musicians while they’re still alive . Veracruz is no celebration for Kim Jong-il featuring 50,000 children performing exception . Both formally and informally, in families and neighbour- in perfect regimented harmony . Fidyk was struck by the scale of hoods, young people are getting together to play this music and this propaganda and by the professionalism of its presentation . He renew these traditions — singing and dancing at outdoor commu- wanted to document what was happening inside this country that nity parties . has been sealed off from the world for decades . There is also an effort to teach young people to build instruments . Together with Jung Sung San, a defector trained in North Korean This works to preserve the musical wisdom of the aging ‘son’ theatrical style, Fidyk creates a large-scale musical based on the musicians who, for decades, have inhabited the banks of the stories of seven people . The musical includes both prisoners Tesechoacan River . It’s inspiring to watch young women and men, and guards from Yodok and the result of their collaboration begs some of them children, learn to sing, dance, and play with such description . Those who suffered torture and who lost their families dignity and style . matter-of-factly relate details of life in the camp . During the play’s production, they advise on everything from marching formations Set to the beautiful soundtrack of the musicians in the film,Soneros: to the most efficient means of performing mass executions . The The Sound of the River shares the story of how both old and young adage that truth is always stranger than fiction doesn’t quite do the generations are fighting a battle against modernity, keeping their story justice . music, celebrations, and way of life alive . Through the voices of these men, women, children, and the sound of their instruments, The larger political implications are made clear in the film’s final we experience the joy of the fandango party . coda . With more than 22 million people slowly starving to death, strangers snatching women and children off the street and eating them is not uncommon . But despite the talk about a united country, South Korea, a modern and affluent nation, doesn’t have much interest in helping its northern neighbours: people who have never seen a bank machine or used a credit card . With little more than rhetoric about reunification, the only action South Korean people can take is to float balloons across the border, filled with pamphlets and plastic bags . An utter revelation, Yodok Stories must be seen to be believed, but even that proves insufficient in the face of the unimaginable reality of life inside North Korea .

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35 Festival Schedule

Friday May 22 7:30 PM G7 Inside Hana’s Suitcase [Canada] Opening Night Film p a g e 17

Saturday May 23 12:00 PM PC A Dream for Kabul [Canada] p a g e 20

12:30 PM VT Shooting Women [USA] p a g e 21

1:30 PM VT Underrepresented: Women Behind the Camera Public Forum* p a g e 21

2:00 PM PC Shots in the Dark [Canada] p a g e 22

4:30 PM PC Robinsons of Mantsinsaari [Belarus] p a g e 23

4:30 PM VT Hair India [Italy] p a g e 23

6:30 PM VT The Queen and I [Sweden] p a g e 25

7:00 PM PC Milking the Rhino [USA] p a g e 25

9:00 PM PC Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love [USA] p a g e 27

9:00 PM VT Nobody’s Perfect [Germany] p a g e 27

Sunday May 24 12:00 PM PC …And Music [Canada] p a g e 29

12:30 PM VT Ex-voto for Three Souls [Canada/Mexico] p a g e 29

2:00 PM VT The Art of the Short Documentary p a g e 31

2:00 PM PC Eternal Mash [Netherlands] p a g e 31

4:00 PM PC Shining Stars / Maytal [Israel] p a g e 33

4:30 PM VT The Meaning of Life [Canada] p a g e 33

6:30 PM PC Yodok Stories [Norway] p a g e 35

7:00 PM VT Soneros: The Sound of the River [Mexico] p a g e 35

8:30 PM PC Forgetting Dad [Germany] p a g e 39

9:00 PM VT 7915 KM [Austria] p a g e 39

Monday May 25 1:00 PM PC Inside Hana’s Suitcase [Canada] p a g e 17

3:30 PM PC Tulku [Canada] p a g e 41

6:00 PM PC Seeking Refuge [Canada] p a g e 41

7:00 PM VT Who The Jew Are You? [Canada] p a g e 42

8:30 PM PC Transit Dubai [Netherlands] p a g e 43

9:00 PM VT Pulling John [USA] p a g e 43

Tuesday May 26 1:00 PM PC Chasing Wild Horses [Canada] p a g e 45

3:30 PM PC The Memories of Angels [Canada] p a g e 45

6:30 PM PC Waterlife [Canada] p a g e 47

7:00 PM VT Word Within the Word [india] p a g e 47

9:00 PM PC I Want to Grow Old in China [Canada] p a g e 49

9:00 PM VT The Dungeon Masters [USA] p a g e 49

G7 Empire Granville 7 Theatre, 855 Granville Street | PC Pacific Cinémathèque, 1131 Howe Street | VT Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street

36 Wednesday May 27 1:00 PM PC To The Tar Sands [Canada] p a g e 51

3:00 PM PC Here Are The News [Canada] p a g e 51

6:30 PM PC Mirage of El Dorado [Canada] p a g e 53

7:00 PM VT Necrobusiness [Sweden] p a g e 53

8:30 PM PC The Sixties: From 1969 to 2009 [USA] p a g e 55

9:00 PM VT The One Percent [USA] p a g e 55

Thursday May 28 1:00 PM PC Afghan Girls Can Kick [UK / Afghanistan] p a g e 57

3:30 PM PC The Sweetest Embrace: Return to Afghanistan [Canada] p a g e 57

6:30 PM VT Devil’s Bargain: A Journey into the Small Arms Trade [Canada] p a g e 59

7:00 PM PC In a Dream [USA] p a g e 59

9:00 PM PC Say My Name [USA/uk] p a g e 61

9:00 PM VT American Swing [USA] p a g e 61

Friday May 29 1:00 PM PC Land of Oil and Water [Canada] p a g e 63

3:30 PM PC Where is the Line? Public Forum* p a g e 63

6:30 PM VT Rough Aunties [South Africa] p a g e 65

7:00 PM PC The Tree Lover [Sweden] p a g e 65

9:00 PM PC The Garden [USA] p a g e 67

9:00 PM VT Carmen Meets Borat [Netherlands] p a g e 67

Saturday May 30 12:00 PM VT Jehad In Motion [Canada] Installation & Artist Talk* p a g e 68

12:30 PM PC Upstream Battle [Germany] p a g e 69

2:00 PM PC The Ecology of Films Public Forum* p a g e 69

2:30 PM VT Welfare [USA] p a g e 71

4:00 PM PC My Mother’s Farm [Norway] p a g e 71

7:30 PM G7 Act of God [Canada] Closing Night Film p a g e 19

Sunday May 31 TBA There will be six repeat screenings of films that sell out during the festival . Check www .doxafestival .ca for the latest updates .

* Public Forums and Richard Fung Installation are free of charge.

G7 Empire Granville 7 Theatre, 855 Granville Street | PC Pacific Cinémathèque, 1131 Howe Street | VT Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street

Sunday may 24 8:30 PM PC Sunday May 24 9:00 PM VT

Forgetting Dad 7915 k m Matthew Sweetwood and Rick Minnich, Germany, 2008, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Austria, 2008, 105 minutes 83 minutes The title, ‘7915 KM’, refers to the length of the legendary Paris to If your father no longer remembers you, does he stop being your Dakar Rally as it was raced in 2007 from Lisbon, Portugal to Dakar, father? Senegal . This would be the last race through the North African desert due to fears of terrorist attacks . 7915 KM is not about the In 1990, one week after a seemingly harmless car accident, Richard race, however, but about the places that the race passes through . Minnich, a California data processing executive and father of five, This road documentary begins where the cars and motorcycles wakes up with total amnesia . He no longer recognizes his wife and leave their dust clouds behind, with the people who live along the children and has great difficulty with the simplest daily tasks . The route in Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal . doctors are baffled, as there is no evidence of brain damage or other physical causes . For the family, the event marks the begin- The contrast between the motorized visitors and the local popula- ning of a never-ending nightmare . Within a few seconds, the first tion is striking . The camera encounters men, women, and children forty-five years of this man’s life are erased forever . From one day who have stories about daily life, their work, happiness, worries to the next, the man they knew as their husband and father had and hopes . Meeting them eye to eye, they set the film’s pace . We become a stranger . meet a girl and her goat (named Rally) in a small Moroccan village; Saharawi soldiers who have been guarding a stretch of desert During the eighteen years since the fateful accident, a new person for decades, its borders still undefined after the Spanish colonizers has developed: from the “Old Richard,” as the man calls his former withdrew; a Mauritanian caterpillar driver who must feed his family self, emerges “New Richard ”. He leaves his family and, with a new though he reached retirement age years ago; the owner of a movie girlfriend, embarks upon a completely new life far removed from theatre in Mali who attempts to compete with the booming DVD his old existence . Filmmaker Rick Minnich is “Old Richard’s” eldest and internet market by showing ‘white porn’ from the 70s; and a son from his first marriage . Sixteen years after his father’s “new young Senegalese woman who gives a tour of houses being built start,” Rick returns to California with a camera to investigate why by villagers working in Europe . his father’s memory still hasn’t returned . One local is surprised that the racers trust their navigation systems He makes inquiries into his father’s illness and examines the sus- more than his knowledge of the land . Another local comments picions and rumours that soon arose after the amnesia began . ‘how rich the whites must be that they can just drive around all With the help of family members, old Super 8 home movies and day ’. Many of the people want to immigrate to Europe, assuming a former colleague of Richard’s, Rick reconstructs, in detective- they would have a chance at a better life there . As one person story fashion, the period of time before and the years following the comments, ‘Europeans don’t have to do anything . They’re all rich accident . Along the way, Rick not only discovers many deep-rooted and just enjoy life ’. emotions that were never dealt with, but also uncovers startling facts that shed a very different light on his father’s memory loss . The film is worth it for the cinematography alone, which cap- Was Richard really struck by a horrible affliction, or was he perhaps tures such diverse and gorgeous geographies as the Moroccan trying to escape from a life he could no longer lead? desert, the deserts of the Saharan Republic, and the lush lands in Senegal . Winner of the IDFA Special Jury Award

Screening Partner

Monday May 25 3:30 PM PC Monday May 25 6:00 PM PC

Tulku Seeking Refuge Gesar Mukpo, Canada, 2009, 75 minutes Karen Cho, Canada, 2008, 70 minutes

In many ways, Gesar Mukpo leads an ordinary life . He’s building Every year, some 30,000 people come to Canada to apply for a career as a filmmaker, he’s had trouble in his marriage, and he refugee status . About 40-45% of those are eventually accepted . struggles to pay his bills . But there is more to Gesar’s story . Tibetan Seeking Refuge takes us into the lives of five claimants and their Buddhists recognize him as a tulku, a reincarnated Buddhist master . support networks . Gesar was three when he became one of the first people born in Though Esly and her common-law husband managed to evade the West recognized as a tulku . His entire life, he’s been trying violent gangs in Honduras, they were stopped at the US-Canadian to figure out what that really means . Tibetan teachers, including border . Since they could not prove they had been living together Gesar’s father, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, began making their for more than a year, he was deported and eventually killed by the way to the West in the 1960s . By the mid-1970s, they began to men who were threatening them in Honduras . Najia is a human recognize Western children as tulkus . Suddenly, a system that rights activist from Kabul whose parents begged her to flee after ensured stable spiritual power and authority in Tibetan society for two of her colleagues were assassinated . When the death threats 800 years was transplanted into a completely different culture . And spilled over to her father, she came to Canada . Leyla escaped serial individual tulkus, like Gesar, were caught in the middle . rape and other violence at the hands of soldiers in the Democratic In this intensely personal documentary, Gesar sets out to meet Republic of Congo but cannot produce the exact documents other Western tulkus to find out how they reconcile modern and demanded by refugee board members . Fouad is a Palestinian from ancient, East and West . Journeying through Canada, the United Lebanon who is running through his limited legal options after his States, India and Nepal, he encounters four other tulkus who strug- claim is rejected, due in part to bad luck as his brother’s nearly gle with this profound dilemma . Ashoka channels his efforts into identical claim had been accepted by a different board member . working for human rights in New York . Dylan, whose parents met On the other end of the process is Kader, a blind man from Algeria at a Jimi Hendrix concert, spends half the year in solitary retreat . who has been living under asylum at his Montreal church for over Wyatt grew up in California and recently moved to India to pursue three years . Tibetan Buddhist studies at a monastery . Meanwhile Reuben, who Together their stories provide a provocative look into this lengthy, was born in Amsterdam and spent three years in an Indian mon- frustratingly bureaucratic process, fraught with political landmines . astery, has become cynical about the tulku system and Tibetan For the government it has become, to an extent, a numbers game . Buddhism in general . For the people who come to Canada seeking refugee status, it is Tulku also includes interviews with some of the greatest living usually a matter of life and death . Tibetan Buddhist teachers . One of them, the renowned Dzongsar Filmmaker in attendance Khyentse Rinpoche, asks if it might be time to abandon the practice of recognizing tulkus . As he gathers impressions from others, Gesar reveals his own poignant story of living in the West with this unique label and legacy, endlessly scrutinized as a supposed special and monumental figure . What does it mean to carry on a role designed for an old world when you’re living in a completely new one? How will Gesar and other Western tulkus fulfill their destiny?

Filmmaker in attendance community Partner

41 Monday May 25 7:00 PM VT

Shining a spotlight on Who the jew are you? alan Goldman, canada, 2009, 50 minutes

When Alan Goldman’s son was born, he was not only faced with the world the decision of whether to circumcise him but also with the realization that Sacha was not actually Jewish . So begins a journey that asks, ‘What does it mean to be Jewish?’ Alan’s peregrinations take him from Vancouver to Orthodox communities in Crown heights, from new York, where the faithful debate points of scripture . From rap- ping rabbis to a lesbian couple who wants their adopted Chinese daughter to have a traditional Bat Mitzvah, Judaism means different things to different people . While some people maintain that ‘God-optional Judaism’ does not exist, others see this as a benefit: Downtown ‘That’s the point of being a Jew, you don’t have to believe in God .’ A charming guide, Alan endures everything from dressing up as Santa Claus for his son’s Christmas party, to being harangued by his family, even his grandfather, who declares himself an athe- Vancouver ist after reading Sam harris’s book The End of Faith. ‘I no longer believe in God,’ he says, ‘Poppycock .’

If Alan can figure out Judaism’s relevance in his own life, he can pass on this knowledge to help his son find his place in the Jewish world . eventually, he uncovers a progressive, re-invigorated Judaism that embraces a multiplicity of people . With humour, warmth, and a generous spirit, Who The Jew Are You? travels full circle back to the love a father has for his son .

WORlD PReMIeRe . FIlMMAKeR In ATTenDAnCe .

PReCeDeD BY: mémére métisse janelle Wookey, canada, 2008, 30 minutes For over sixty years, Janelle Wookey’s grandmother, or Mémére, Cecile St . Amant has been keeping a deep dark secret; she is Métis . A young filmmaker and host of a program on the Aboriginal People’s Television network, Janelle sets out to understand her Mémére’s denial . She playfully plots her mission to open her Mémére’s eyes to the richness of their heritage and the joy of their culture . Over four months, the mischievous Janelle gave her granny no peace, using the closeness they share to bring her grandmother face to face with her own contradictions .

coMMunity partner Monday may 25 8:30 PM PC Monday may 25 9:00 PM VT

Transit Dubai Pulling John Ineke Smits, The Netherlands, 2008, 72 minutes Vassiliki Khonsari & Sevan Matossian, USA, 2008, 73 minutes

“There seems to be this attitude inside of Dubai that anything is A living legend in a sport he helped popularize, John Brzenk is possible. People come here and it’s like the new America... You consumed by one question . Brzenk has gone twenty-five years come here to make your dreams come true.” as the undefeated arm-wrestling world champion . Now, at forty, – Roberto Lopardo, photography teacher he is torn between retiring while still on top or succumbing to the inevitable should he continue: a loss to a new champion . Having In the heart of the Middle East, a modern city has rapidly become traveled to over one hundred and twenty countries during his leg- the tourism and high-end real estate development centre of the endary twenty-five year career, John has unrelentingly pursued the area . For many, Dubai holds the promise of boundless opportunity best competitors the world over . And he’s beat them all . One of and unprecedented economic growth . But no city can exist with- the most likeable and peaceable men you could meet, John is at out a population, and Dubai’s population is unique; more than 80% a crossroads . of its inhabitants are temporary immigrants of European, Asian, American as well as Middle Eastern origin . Alexey Voevoda is a twenty-three year old from Sochi, Russia who respects the traditional Soviet traits of discipline and athletic Whether it be to earn fast money, to spend a life of exclusivity, prowess . Educated in the sport of arm-wrestling from a young to labour 7 days a week to support the family home, or to live age, Voevoda was always aware of the Cold War era victories of under liberties afforded by a more modern, morally flexible Middle American John Brzenk . He has dedicated his life to toppling the Eastern city, they all eventually want to go home . Everyone, except legend . For Alexey, arm-wrestling is almost a religious experience . for the few locals who have no choice but to watch as their home- town grows into whatever the future may bring . Swedish women Travis Begent is a twenty-six year old with an undaunted spirit, explain how their lives have changed since moving to Dubai; they despite a lifetime of hardship . His father and mentor, ‘Big Arm’ now have time to look after their children since local women clean Boyd passed on only two things to his son: arm-wrestling and the their houses and there’s no financial reason for them to work out- love of arm-wrestling legend John Brzenk . Pulling John follows side the home . But they aren’t necessarily happy . Travis’s personal journey as he rises through the ranks towards a battle between two adversaries that stand in his way to greatness: Western influences have changed the locals too, with things like Alexey Voevoda and John Brzenk . Bluetooth-enabled flirting penetrating a once-solid sexual divide . Through the eyes of four photography students, we step through Pulling John, shot over four years, witnesses the mythical world of the glittering façade of a city that, despite its plush beachfront arm-wrestling where two titans battle it out . The physical training villas, ultra-luxe retail, and incredible artificial islands, might just these men undergo is incredible to witness . Shot in Canada, Japan, be a mirage . the US, and the Ukraine, Pulling John is a sweat-drenched journey that steers you through the personal stories of three athletes, as well as the tension and suspense of the international competition where they all meet for the first time .

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43 lll#cViZdg\Vc^Xh#Xdb L=6INDJG:6E>HL=6IL:H:L Tuesday may 26 1:00 PM PC Tuesday may 26 3:30 PM PC

PLANET IN FOCUS co-presents The Memories of Angels Chasing Wild Horses Luc Bourdon, Canada, 2008, 80 minutes The city is Montreal . The era is the ‘50s and ‘60s . And the film is Matt Trecartin and Natasha Ryan, Canada, 2008, 50 minutes Luc Bourdon’s virtuoso assembly of clips from 120 National Film Chasing Wild Horses is a beautiful story of reverence and splen- Board films shot in Montreal . The Memories of Angels will charm dour . Roberto Dutesco, New York City’s top fashion photographer, audiences of all ages . It’s a journey in time, a visit to the street cor- works with human beauty every day . Born in Romania and raised in ners of Montreal, a tribute to the vitality of the city, and a wonderful Montreal, his unique artistic eye has brought him fame and recogni- cinematic adventure . tion throughout the fashion world . Many years ago, he took a small Without commentary or ostentation, the film is a history lesson of plane to Sable Island, where he found an exceptional environment the last centur y: the red light district, the eloquent Jean Drapeau, the that changed his perception of beauty and undeniably impacted young Queen Elizabeth greeting the crowd, and Tex Lecor shouting his art . “Aux armes Québécois!” There are kids dreaming of hockey glory, On this unique island, the discovery of untamed, long-maned the Jacques-Cartier market bursting with fresh produce, and the horses running through the dunes was an aesthetic experience like department stores downtown teeming with Christmas shoppers . no other for Roberto . He became fixated on the natural beauty of You may recognize the films that provide these sights: the Jones the untouched, wild horses . In Chasing Wild Horses, he returns to brothers of Golden Gloves by Gilles Groulx, the church from Les the island with his camera . And with him, we discover the hidden Montréalistes by Denys Arcand . The superb colour shots of modern treasures this country offers . Accessing the island is nearly impos- buildings are from Albédo by Jacques Leduc and Renée Roy . And sible; very few people are allowed access in order to preserve the gorgeous images of actress Geneviève Bujold from Le temps the island . Through his photos and his New York gallery, Roberto des amours by Hubert Aquin . wants to bring support to the various organizations dedicated to Director Luc Bourdon and editor Michel Giroux have assembled preserving the beauty of Sable Island . fluid, clear sequences underlining the beauty of the black-and- Classified for younger audiences. No membership required. white images contrasted with colour ones . The Memories of Angels showcases the singular beauty of Montreal, its architectural and Planet in Focus produces Canada’s largest international envi- human wealth, and the grandeur of its setting . Much of it is set to ronmental film & video festival . We use creative environmentally the music of Oscar Peterson, Charles Trenet, Raymond Lévesque, themed films/videos by Canadian and international filmmakers as Dominique Michel, Paul Anka, and Willie Lamothe . a catalyst for broad public awareness, discussion and appropriate As the NFB prepares to celebrate its 70th birthday, The Memories action on the ecological and social health of the planet . Planet in of Angels recalls the talent of the filmmakers who trained their Focus has earned global recognition as a leader in environmental cameras and microphones on the world around them, as well as awareness education . the amazing ability of an artist to model new material from old . Like Our 10th anniversary festival runs today’s DJs and VJs who energize contemporary music and art, October 21-25, 2009 . Call for sub- Luc Bourdon draws from the fertile source of great Quebec cinema missions closes June 26, 2009 . and recycles the sights and sounds of the past . www planetinfocus. org. The Memories of Angels is poetry, fiction, documentary, and essay rolled into one . It is also a joyous, touching experience and a collective history whose threads dance in one’s mind long after the closing credits . Special Event Partners community Partner

45 Word Within the Word Essay by Deepa Dhanraj

Watching Word Within the Word is an invitation to experience Dar- Forgoing the standard interview mode, she seeks neither personal shan, translated as being in the presence of a saint, deity, or sacred nor sociological information but engages with them as co-seekers, place . asking for clarity on concepts or offering a story as a parable .

Rajula Shah’s film starts with unremarkable images of a 21st cen- As Rajula wrote to me, “I did not want to look only at the perform- tury Indian urban landscape: from rain drenched sparrows perched ance aspect, in my wish to enter the space where each sings to on telephone lines, to rows of ugly plastic water tanks on the ter- her/himself I feel very grateful to have found it with all these people race of a water-stained apartment building . On the soundtrack we who talked and sang as if I wasn’t there and then suddenly stopped hear the ecstatic poetry of Kabir, the 15th century mystic weaver/ and asked, now you sing one too ”. poet, sung by the late Pandit Kumar Gandharva . We are gradually drawn into a still meditative space . “What will happen to your camera Pandit Kumar Gandharva, considered one of the greatest Hindu- stani classical singers, was diagnosed with tuberculosis at the age once you die? It will roll in the dust!” of 28 and forbidden to sing again . He traveled to Dewas, Madhya Pradesh (Central India) to convalesce . As he lay on his sickbed, he heard ordinary people pass by: farmers, shepherds, artisans, In classic Kabir style of using the present moment as a pedagogic weavers, and potters singing Kabir in folk style . Disguised, he at- opportunity, the fruit seller gives an example of impermanence and tended their singing sessions at night to steep himself in their folk asks Rajula, “What will happen to your camera once you die? It will musical tradition . When he returned to singing in classical con- roll in the dust!” certs, a startling new sound emerged . It combined the intention of the direct ‘singing to God style’ of the oral folk tradition with the There is neither information on the biographical details of Kabir nor rigor of classical vocal training . While his rendition of Kabir was on the history of his time . Neither does Rajula touch on the super- readily accessible to audiences across the country on LP records, ficial secular appropriation of his philosophy, which represents him and now on CDs, it was harder to locate the oral folk tradition sung as the best icon of Hindi Muslim syncretism, religious iconoclasm, by thousands of ordinary people across North India and Pakistan . and anti casteism . By committing thousands of poems to memory, they sang Kabir as Instead using cinematic means, exquisite visuals of landscapes, part of their spiritual practice . the beauty of watching people work and sing, long shots held with For some of us urban, middle-class Indians living in the 21st cen- slow-paced rhythmic editing, she takes us on an inner journey to tury, our first exposure to this 15th century mystic/weaver poet was give us a taste of his teachings . It is a sensory experience that in school during Hindi language class . In classrooms, his poetry is goes deep . taught as exemplifying the use of metaphor, rhyme, and meter . He composed his poems in popular Hindi rather than Sanskrit, which Curator Biography was the language of upper caste scriptural orthodoxy . Deepa Dhanraj has been involved with the women’s movement in India since 1980, around the time she started making films . Since, As a poet in the Bhakti (Devotion) tradition, he insisted on simpli- she has directed documentaries that have screened at festivals city and directness . The metaphors and images he used were all around the world . Themes have consistently related to women’s drawn from everyday life . This makes it easy for common people, status, political participation, edu- farmers, artisans, and people of all castes and religions to access cation, and health . Dhanraj has a profound spiritual truths . Beware of scriptural authority, abstrac- special interest in education; she tions, and philosophizing . Trust direct ecstatic experience of the makes films that enable commun- divine . Reject all religious institutions . Interrogate all received wis- ities to identify barriers faced by first dom . These were his core teachings . They were often delivered in generation learners from marginal a provocative style intended to shock and challenge the assump- communities, especially girls, with tions of his listeners . a view to enable access to school- The film travels to Malwa, in search of the oral folk tradition . Rajula ing . She has contributed papers to engages with a farmer, a fruit seller, a sweet maker, and a rope conferences relating to feminist re- maker . We see them work, sing, debate, and interpret Kabir’s search and teaches video to women texts . Atypically, Rajula chooses not to contextualize the poor in a activists from Southeast Asia . socio-political space . She, instead, interacts with them as philoso- pher poets, embodying Kabir’s path of poetry as praxis .

46 Tuesday may 26 6:30 PM PC Tuesday May 26 7:00 PM VT

Waterlife Word Within the Word Kevin McMahon, Canada, 2009, 109 minutes Rajula Shah, India, 2008, 74 minutes

From the icy cliffs of Lake Superior to the ornate fountains of Curated by Deepa Dhanraj Chicago, from the rain-swept streets of Detroit to the sewers of Word Within the Word is a cinematic coming together of words, Windsor and beyond, Waterlife follows the epic cascade of the memories, and the human landscape through 14th century mystical Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean . The Great Lakes of North Bhakti poetry . The film looks at how the Word resonates in and America supply twenty percent of the earth’s fresh water, with 35 of ordinary lives across centuries . Beginning from a cloudy mon- million people drinking this water every day . soon morning in the city of Bhopal, it travels to Malwa, Madhya With stunning photography, underwater and above, Waterlife pays Pradesh (the hub of tribal India), also known as the second home homage to this incredible and complex body of water and the life of Pt . Kumar Gandharva, one of the greatest musicians of our time . it contains . We observe as it transforms the societies it passes Here, within the fast-altering fabric of a challenged rural life, we through and, in turn, is transformed by them . encounter common people . Regardless of age, caste, or gender, they fight hard to earn a daily square meal . And they keep music Yet, beyond this extraordinary beauty, the Great Lakes are in an alive at the bosom of a gnawing fate . As they sing the poetry of extreme state of distress . Under assault by a deadly combination Kabir and Gorakhnath they embody, far beyond the scope of any of industrial toxins, sewage, invasive species, dropping water intellectual resolve, a refusal to die and a bid to seize eternity from levels, and profound human apathy, the lakes verge on irreversible historic annihilation . collapse . Still highly respected today, the most influential Bhakti poet is Director Kevin McMahon takes viewers on a tour of an incredibly Kabir . In his teachings, ideas from Islam and Hinduism flow into beautiful ecosystem that faces complex challenges, and gives one another . He rejected religion centred on formalities . His lore viewers a visceral understanding of the element that is so inte- advocates, instead, inner experiences on the road to higher spiritual gral to our lives . Along the way we meet a wide-ranging group of awareness . It is an unorthodox philosophy, which warns against people who are connected to the Great Lakes . These people tell religious fanaticism and sanctimonious hypocrisy . In modern India, their stories of the region, sharing what is meaningful and neces- the ancient oral traditions are under threat of falling into oblivion . sary about this water from their perspectives . In the end, Waterlife Bhakti devotees, as a result, feel driven to paraphrase their poetic has the power to transform how we see water and to inspire us to language and explain its complex meanings . act before it’s too late . Word Within the Word is a crucial gateway to the India we are fast Narrated by The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie, the film is propelled forgetting, one that is difficult to classify and categorise but sim- by a soaring soundtrack featuring music by Sam Roberts, Sufjan pler to understand if you hear its people speak . Within this human Stevens, Sigur Rós, Robbie Robertson, and Brian Eno . Filled with landscape, one can aspire to face our contemporary dilemmas fascinating characters and stunning imagery, Waterlife is a cin- stemming from learned responses and fragmented dreams . ematic epic about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted . Winner, Horizons Award, Munich International Documentary Film Festival Filmmaker in attendance

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Tuesday may 26 9:00 PM PC Tuesday May 26 9:00 PM VT

I Want to Grow Old in China The Dungeon Masters Sameer Farooq and Ursula Engel, Canada, 2008, 50 minutes Keven McAlester, USA, 2008, 93 minutes

Welcome to Park Tuanjiehu in China’s capital . Early each morning, Inside the beige walls of a Middle-American convention centre, a it is host to a stunning multimedia spectacle performed by thou- dream of honour, adventure, and Wagnerian passion burns in the sands of the city’s elderly . From gymnastics to disco-dancing, bird hearts of three different people . Director Keven McAlester (nomi- training to singing, together they have a hunger for living . Intimate nated for an Independent Spirit Award for his film on RokyE rikson, and character driven, the documentary follows four distinct groups You’re Gonna Miss Me) returns with The Dungeon Masters, a jour- as their lives and rituals unfold each morning . ney deep into the world of Dungeons and Dragons .

I Want to Grow Old in China highlights the spontaneity, passion, Scott aspires to greatness, whether it’s through a cable access diligence, and poetry created in the public spaces of Beijing, creat- show called Uncle Drac’s Magical Clubhouse (which is just as ing a unique situation where longevity meets performance . This awful as it sounds) or his unpublished fantasy novels . Elizabeth, film could not come at a better time as issues of aging populations whose persona of a dark elf requires the laborious application of are at the forefront of international debate . By following the stories full-body makeup, drifts between bad relationships and dead-end of the park’s most colourful figures, the film offers an alternative jobs . Richard, reunited with his adoptive son and the gamers he view of growing old . has feuded with for the past twenty years, must reconcile with his own emotional inadequacy . All three are bound up in their raw need I Want to Grow Old in China presents an alternative angle on China, for something bigger, something better . Something, conversely enriching our understanding of one of the most discussed coun- enough, more real . tries of the moment . The filmmakers take us deep into a world many of us have not had the chance to experience . Filmed with extraordinary attention by cinematographer Lee Daniel (Slacker), The Dungeon Masters is not another gawk at a subcul- Filmmakers in attendance ture of freak and geeks, but an honest look at what Pulitzer-prize Preceded by: winner Ernest Becker called the “immortality project ”. If all of Requiem for Mrs . h . human civilization, from God to LOTR (That’s Lord of the Rings, for Philipp Hartmann, Germany, 2007, 5 minutes the uninitiated), is a defense mechanism against death, the need to become part of something heroic is not only normal, but neces- An old woman has died . Workers move her things out of her apart- sary . As Scott says, “A lot of the world is very gray, there‘s a lot ment and take off the wallpaper . A requiem in super-8 images with of people out there, but where is the greatness?” The struggle to the soprano aria of Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem. find happiness and, more importantly, meaning becomes an epic Steel Homes quest all on its own . Richard, leading his gamers into an unknown Eva Weber, Scotland, 2008, 10 minutes adventure, describes it as “A solitary imperfection in an otherwise perfect void ”. Self-storage units are windows into human histories; the silent cells with their discarded objects and dust-covered furniture are inscribed with past dreams, secret hopes, and lives we cannot let go of . Moving from steel cage to steel cage, we encounter tales of heartbreak, loneliness, and despair as well as stories of liberation, adventure, and leaving the past behind .

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great teaching great programs great future Wednesday may 27 1:00 PM PC Wednesday may 27 3:00 PM PC

To The Tar Sands Here Are The News Jodie Martinson, Canada, 2008, 61 minutes Cathleen Smith, Canada, 2008, 51 minutes

To The Tar Sands follows a group of nineteen young environmental- Here Are The News celebrates the accomplishments of Yukon ists as they cycle northbound over 1300 kilometres across Alberta’s journalist, Miss Edith Josie . Edith Josie is from the Gwitchin group Wild Rose Country to witness the impacts of the tar sands boom . of Athabasca Indians who range from the Northwest Territories, to They ask farmers, moms, oil industry workers, an urban planner, the Yukon, to Alaska . the chief of a First Nations community, and others ‘How has the tar Miss Josie captured the imaginations of people around the globe sands boom affected you?’ with her unique approach to writing as a correspondent for the The result is a three-week long journey that is both mentally and Whitehorse Star in 1953, a job she held for almost 50 years . physically taxing for the scruffy, activist riders . By meeting locals Starting out not reading or writing in English, her column was on their own turf and genuinely listening to their stories, the syndicated in the Edmonton Journal, the Fairbanks News Miner, cyclists are forced to weigh the environmental needs of the planet and the Indian News in Vancouver . Over the years, Miss Josie against the economic needs of the residents . As the kilometres put Old Crow on the map by appearing numerous times on Peter click away, the complexity of the issues and the ethical dilemmas Gzowski’s CBC Radio show and television programs such as Front surrounding oil extraction become apparent . Eventually, several of Page Challenge . As well, a feature article in Life Magazine gave her the cyclists shift gears and stop advocating for a moratorium on worldwide acclaim . tar sands production . Instead, they begin to seek strategies for an Her passion for education and tradition are themes in her life and economic future of Alberta that does not exacerbate the planet’s in the film, which explores more than just the journalistic activity climate problems . of this member of the Order of Canada . Miss Josie’s outlook on To The Tar Sands doesn’t shy away from presenting multiple sides life is continuously shared with others as she demonstrates the of the story, but even as the most rapidly ideological stance begins value of language, stories, education, and faith . She lives these to waver under the unrelenting work of cycling hundreds of kilome- lessons through her interactions with her community, the public, tres everyday, the land is changing around them . When the group and her family . She also shows us the unique way of life of the finally reaches its final destination, the sheer scale of the tar sands Gwitchin people and how modern development threatens their life development itself is staggering . There must be a better way than necessities . turning large stretches of Canada into something that resembles In Edith Josie’s world, she simply reported events as she saw a poisonous moonscape . The environmental costs that currently them . But, for outsiders, she opened doors to Old Crow, her tiny face Albertans, and by extension most of the world, become indel- village of 300 people, 80 miles north of the Arctic Circle . ibly clear . As they grease up their bike chains and realize that even they have oil on their hands, the group should be lauded for taking Filmmaker in attendance the long road rather than the easy one . Preceded by: Filmmaker in attendance Traditional Trappings Joel Peter, Canada, 2008, 3 minutes An elder from Old Crow shares his experience living off the land . Classified for younger audiences. No membership required. Man Who Always Lives In The Bush Mary Jane Moses, Canada, 2008, 5 minutes Community partner A tribute to the filmmaker’s husband who values life on the land and celebrates Gwitchin traditions and culture .

51 Progressive arts build strong communities. CUPE BC salutes the directors, producers, programmers and hosts of the 2009 Doxa Documentary Film Festival.

Barry O’Neill, Mark Hancock, President Secretary-treasurer Wednesday may 27 6:30 PM PC Wednesday may 27 7:00 PM VT

Mirage of El Dorado Necrobusiness Martin Frigon, Canada, 2008, 75 minutes Fredrik von Krusenstjerna and Richard Solarz, Sweden, 2008, 90 minutes Mirage of El Dorado leads us into the mountains of northern Chile, where the devastating operations of Canadian mining companies From the crisp black and white animation of its opening titles, threaten a fragile ecosystem in one of the driest parts of the Necrobusiness resembles a film noir come to unbelievable life . globe . This is the story of how a funeral director in Lodz, Poland paid off ambulance drivers to supply him with fresh corpses and, thus, This political cowboy flick follows the pitched battle between a more business . It may sound like a tale spun off the pen of Dashiell farming community in the Huasco valley and Canada’s mining giant, Hammett or Raymond Chandler, but the reality of the situation Barrick Gold, with its sidekick Noranda (now part of the Swiss cor- would have strained even their darkest imaginings . poration Xstrata) . It’s a battle fought high in the Cordilleran Andes, where farmers and locals fear the ravages of open pit mining opera- Co-directors Fredrik von Krusenstjerna and Richard Solarz lay out tions . Here, a fragile system of glaciers feeds the rivers that flow the Byzantine complexities of the scam through Monika Sieradzka, into the farmlands built out of the advancing Atacama desert . an investigative reporter . She begins to follow the story with the trial of Jacek Tomalski . Tomalski, a mortuary worker, was accused The camera reveals a Chilean government impotent in the face of hiring a hitman to kill a local businessman named Witold of unprecedented, potentially devastating mining projects . The Skrzydlewski, owner of one of the biggest funeral parlour chains in film also exposes the Canadian government’s hypocrisy towards Lodz . As the evidence builds, it becomes clear that graft, corrup- its own mining companies, which corrupt foreign governments tion, and a scam to profit from funeral state subsidies was only the and weaken the environmental assessment process . Pinochet’s beginning of the story . Monika, who is lucky to still be alive at the dictatorship imposed the permissive legislation now enjoyed by end of the film, does her utmost to elicit a confession from the man Canadian trans-nationals . This same legislation has been carried behind it all: Witold Skrzydlewski . over by successive transition governments, bowing to the dictates of neo-liberal economics . Reeking of bonhomie and guile, Skrzydlewski’s combination flower shop/funeral parlour empire was built upon blossoms in the front With a backdrop of breathtaking images and eloquent testimonials, and coffins in the back . One of the three richest men in the city Mirage of El Dorado defies the powers that would have us believe of Lodz and a pillar of the community, his tentacles of influence their divine mission is to extract wealth, no matter where it lies, were spread wide . At one point, he controlled more than 60% of purportedly to save local communities from endemic poverty . all funeral business in a city of over one million souls .

Winner, Grand Prize, Paris International Environmental Film Festival Death was a booming business in Lodz . Skrzydlewski’s scheme Winner, Grand Prize, Vina Del Mar International Digital Cinema Festival to pay off ambulance drivers and paramedics to supply him with bodies worked like a charm, until the lure of greater profits led his Filmmaker in attendance partners to betrayal . While Tomalski was indicted for attempted murder, Skrzydlewski slipped loose and continued business . But the story deepens and darkens even further when it is revealed that Tomalski was merely the tip of the iceberg . The genuinely dead were delivered into the predation of Skrzydlewski’s funeral parlours . But many people were also prematurely hastened into the great beyond and into his parlours, with help from paramedics and hospital workers (who were responsible for the deaths of an Screening Partner community partner unknown number of patients) . The case is ongoing, with more than fifty murders currently under investigation . The final death count is estimated to be as high as 20,000 people .

53 The sixties: from 1969 to 2009 Essay by Cornelius Moore

The candidacy and subsequent election of Barack Obama as the to implode by the 1970s, Black Panther is now largely viewed as first African American president of the United States is certainly an historical artifact, trotted out when programs on the 1960s are an indicator of how much the country’s racial politics have pro- organized . however, San Francisco State: On Strike is sometimes gressed from a few decades ago . (On a personal note, as the child used by ethnic studies departments to inform students about of black parents from the southern state of Virginia, the capitol of the program’s origins and why it is important to maintain . the Old Confederacy, I am still amazed by Obama’s victory . It was Pairing Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 with Black unimaginable just a short time ago .) The Obama campaign was Panther and San Francisco State: On Strike allows viewers to con- also an opportunity for black media professionals and commen- sider how different times produce different types of media and how tators to voice their perspectives and shed light on their lives to historical perspective influences the final product .Although all three national audiences: something still distressingly uncommon . As I films deal with the same time period, Scarred Justice: The Orange- watched the historic inauguration, I was in the process of curat- burg Massacre 1968 received funding from the public broadcast en- ing this documentary program, which examines events from forty tities: the Independent Television Service (ITVS) and the National years ago . That was when movements for social change, many in- Black Programming Consortium, which were established in 1979 spired by the black freedom struggle, were reaching revolutionary and 1991 respectively .The film runs a standard broadcast length of heights even as they faced institutional intransigence and state re- 57 minutes and will be shown on PBS in the fall 20 09 and distributed pression . The national mainstream broadcast media was one of to colleges, high schools, and community organizations by Califor- those lily white institutions, and when it did report on the social nia Newsreel .It is clearly sympathetic to the students . As well, one movements, the coverage was often distorted . of the producers/directors, Judy Richardson, was on the staff of This created the need for media production to present view- the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the late points of the racial equality and anti-Vietnam War movements . 1960s with connections to some of the Movement veterans . But Newsreel emerged in 1968 to fill this void . It was a network of local it is also driven by journalistic investigation rather than propa- film groups in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and a few other ganda . The film allows participants to tell their stories, but rather places . It became the media arm of ‘The Movement’ . Two of its first than rest in the past it encourages the viewers to ask: films focused on the fight for racial justice .Black Panther (originally 1 . What kind of climate allowed the killings to happen? entitled Off the Pig!) was made in collaboration with the Black Pan- ther Party (BPP) and its young urban leadership .At one point, there 2 . Why are we ignorant about the incidents? were 200 film prints in active circulation across the country, gener- 3 . How has historical perspective influenced how we view these ating awareness about and support for the group’s activities . San events today? Francisco State: On Strike reports on the six-month student strike 4 . How does the film contribute to rectifying past wrongs as well to win the country’s first ethnic studies department . neither film as provide some healing for the community? pretended to be ‘objective’ but rather actively engaged with their subjects, made from the ‘inside’ . The films not only embraced their The last point is particularly important when dealing with the legacy points of view but also adopted their confrontational style . They of racial oppression in the US and its contemporary manifestations . were also influenced by both the aesthetics of ‘underground’, or avant-garde film, and even Cuban noticieros (newsreels), most To these ends, Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 st famously directed by Santiago Alvarez . was recently screened on the 21 anniversary of the police killings at the site of the assault, South Carolina State University . The Black Panther and San Francisco State: On Strike are shorts (four- enthusiastic audience was 700 strong and included people of dif- teen and twenty minutes respectively) . These were unconvention- ferent generations and races . An illustration of the transformative al lengths for theatrical exhibition or broadcast but, undoubtedly, power of film in these changing times occurred at the screening . these arenas were never seriously considered by the makers . In The mayor of Orangeburg, South Carolina, a conservative figure, fact, they were mainly exhibited at meetings, college auditoriums, used the occasion to apologize for the first time for the city’s role community centers, and church basements . They reached their in violently attacking protestors . intended audiences, energizing activism and solidarity . They are often rough, accompanied by simple musical soundtracks featuring Curator Biography percussion, songs, and chants, which seemed composed on the Cornelius Moore is the Co-Director of spot . Filmmaking was (and still can be) an expensive endeavour, the 41 year-old San Francisco-based so the films were made with free labour . But, ironically, they were distributor and production company, funded by white middle and upper class individuals who dominated California Newsreel . His work focuses the very early Newsreel membership . on the acquisition, promotion, and pro- There were no foundation, art, public broadcasting, or government gramming of films on African American grants to fund these radical films .As a combination of government life and history as well as films from dirty tricks and infiltration fueled internal conflicts and led the BPP and about Africa .

54 Wednesday May 27 8:30 PM PC Wednesday may 27 9:00 PM VT

The Sixties: from 1969 to 2009 The One Percent Black Panther Jamie Johnson, USA, 2008, 60 minutes San Francisco Newsreel, USA, 1969, 14 minutes In an earlier film, Born Rich, Jamie Johnson profiled several young people born into wealth, who spoke frankly about a ‘taboo’ subject San Francisco State: On Strike they’d been scrupulously taught to avoid: their family’s money . In San Francisco Newsreel, USA, 1969, 20 minutes his new film, The One Percent, he exposes this taboo to deeper scrutiny . The film focuses on the growing wealth gap in America, Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg as seen through the youthful eyes of filmmaker Johnson, a twenty- Massacre 1968 seven-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical for- Bestor Cram and Judy Richardson, USA, 2009, 57 minutes tune . Utilizing his family’s name and connections, Jamie sets his sights on exploring the political, moral, and emotional rationale that Curated by Cornelius Moore enables a tiny percentage of Americans, the one percent, to control nearly half the wealth of the entire United States . Concerned about This program offers perspectives on seminal events in sixties activ- the widening chasm between the rich and everyone else, Johnson ism for racial justice, from back then to now . tracks down several icons of capitalism, pressing them to elaborate The first two films, Black Panther and San Francisco State: On on their beliefs . Strike, are archival works completed in 1969 by the legendary activ- Featuring an all-star cast including a presidential candidate, a Nobel ist filmmaking group,N ewsreel . There were no auteurs here, rather laureate, a photocopying tycoon, an infamous arms merchant, and they were collectively made in solidarity with the organizations a wiener empire heir, the story sheds light on the absurd sense (the Black Panther Party) and struggles (the tumultuous student of entitlement that drives megalomaniacs to amass their fortunes . strike at San Francisco State) highlighted in the films . They are low The film also gives voice to those born into wealth who question budget, rough, yet energetic works representative of the turbulent the fairness of a system that benefits them, often with startling times that produced them . They feature well known figures such repercussions from their families . Throughout the making of the as Panther leaders Huey P . Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge documentary, Jamie’s father and his financial advisors pressure the Cleaver . You can also catch a glimpse of a very young Danny Glover budding filmmaker to stop working on projects that could be dam- as a student activist at San Francisco State . aging to the company that feeds them . A shocking, yet unceremo- Forty years later, Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre 1968 nious, scene reveals that Warren Buffet actually ex-communicated looks back at a little known series of incidents which led to the his granddaughter for simply participating in this film . In the end, shooting deaths, by authorities, of three black students during a the Johnson clan is portrayed as quite tolerant of their sometimes Civil Rights Movement rally at South Carolina State . naive but well-intentioned filmmaking kin, narrowly averting a ‘poor trustafarian’ sentiment . One of the funniest moments in the film Presenting these three films together allows viewers to consider is when Jamie gets his comeuppance from Milton Freedman for how different times produce different types of media, the role that taking a laissez-faire approach to his research and interviews . This the films play at the time of production in supporting activism, and film offers a rare and unique glimpse into a part of society that how historical perspective can influence our views of the past . works hard to keep us out .

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55 Banyen Books & Hollyhock welcome KRISHNAKRISHNA DASDAS supporting economic An evening of KIRTAN & social justice —a traditional communal spiritual practice using music & chanting to purify the heart since 1976 FRI., MAY 29 7:30pm $30 St. Andrew’s Wesley Church Krishna Das is at (Burrard at Nelson) supporting DOXA since 1999 Hollyhock May 31- tkts: Banyen, 604-737-8858 June 5 hollyhock.ca or 800-933-6339 www.krishnadas.com Banyen call us today call us today

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Afghan Girls Can Kick The Sweetest Embrace: Bahareh Hosseini, UK/Afghanistan, 2007, 50 minutes Return to Afghanistan Under the Taliban, women’s freedom in Afghanistan was almost Najeeb Mirza, Canada, 2008, 74 minutes entirely curbed . For five years, women went through life veiled, The only thing I want God to bestow on me is to sit by my parents usually indoors, excluded from education and, of course, from and smell their scent. – Amir sports . Now some women are seizing their chance to do what they couldn’t before . Afghan Girls Can Kick is a portrait of teenage girls Soorgul was only ten years old when he said goodbye to his family breaking stereotypes set by an intensely conservative Afghan soci- in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan . Crossing into Soviet ety . As players in Afghanistan’s first ever women’s national football Tajikistan over the turbulent Amu Darya River, he clutched the team, these young women are escaping poverty while gaining sides of a wooden gondola as it slowly made its way to the other self-esteem and confidence . For security reasons, no international side . He was supposed to spend a year studying in Tajikistan, but it team has ever played against them in Afghanistan; at a friendly would take sixteen years and a journey to Canada before he could game on Peace Day, NATO’s women soldiers are no match for the return to his village . Afghani team . Soorgul was one of many Afghan children sent to Tajikistan during When the team is invited to a tournament in Islamabad, it’s the first the Soviet occupation . When the Soviet Union collapsed, civil war time they will play a game on a real soccer field . The film follows broke out on both sides of the border and the children were left the team’s preparations for their first international matches, con- stranded . He and a few of his schoolmates were able to leave centrating on a few players . As a child, Roya had to collect waste Tajikistan only after many years, when Canada accepted them as paper on the filthy streets of Kabul’s slums to provide fuel for her refugees . family . Through an Afghan charity, she received an education and In The Sweetest Embrace, Soorgul and Amir, two of these forgot- found she had a talent for football . She now plays centre-forward ten boys of Afghanistan, return to their country in search of their for the national women’s team . Other members of the team families . We meet Soorgul and Amir in Kabul and join them as they recount their problems with the Taliban and how football helped travel north, towards the villages where they last saw their families . them see a future in present-day Afghanistan, beset by insecurity After an American military accident leads to riots, it becomes too and suicide bombings . The film offers a rare insight into the lives of dangerous to continue in NGO vehicles . They switch to local vans young Afghan women, showing them not as passive victims, but and finally, when rock-strewn roads become completely impass- as people striving for a future . able, finish their journey on foot through some of Afghanistan’s Preceded by: highest mountains . But when their paths diverge, their futures Journey My Heart become filled with unexpected and unpredictable turns as they Reil Munro, Canada, 2007, 9 minutes seek resolution in their lives . What begins as a documentary about the rigours of physical train- The Sweetest Embrace tells an intimate story set against one of ing becomes a complex portrait of a Pow Wow jingle dress dancer . the world’s most harsh yet beautiful landscapes, in a land where Joanne Soldier runs miles and weight-trains in an effort to fulfill a life has been shaped by war and hardship but where spirit remains spiritual calling that links her with her elders and the generations resilient . to come . Originally from Swan Lake, Soldier reveals the physical commitment and cultural necessity of her art form .

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Thursday may 28 6:30 PM VT Thursday may 28 7:00 PM PC

Devil’s Bargain: A Journey into the Planet in Focus co-presents Small Arms Trade In a Dream Shelley Saywell, Canada, 2008, 89 minutes Jeremiah Zagar, USA, 2008, 78 minutes

Small weapons like pistols and rifles are the real weapons of For many artists, their environment is their inspiration . For Isaiah mass destruction: each year, they’re used to kill some 500,000 Zagar, a tormented artist, the bohemian neighbourhood of South people worldwide, including right here in the Lower Mainland . Philadelphia is his canvas . Over four decades, Zagar has covered Starting in the gun markets of Somalia, Canadian filmmaker more than fifty thousand square feet of Philadelphia with stunning Shelley Saywell takes us to a region where guns are making life mosaic murals . Vibrant, revealing, pulsating mosaics . They are like a misery of violence and fear . But no guns are made in Somalia . spun webs that capture his life in vulnerable detail . At the same From France to South Africa, from Bosnia to Moldova, the USA time, they subtly allude to the darker corners of an extraordinary and Canada, we travel around the world to examine how the guns imagination . slip from legal to illegal markets, via the so-called Grey Zone . Devil’s Bargain exposes the deepest undercrofts of international In a Dream exposes the precarious dependence of a father, hus- weapons trade, including a visit to one of the most sinister trade band, and artist to his physical environment . It provides a poignant shows, an American weapons expo . Saywell gets surprising reminder that the surroundings we weave are a living organism access to everyone from dealers, to pilots, to end-users, to victims, vulnerable to our actions and choices . Chronicling the artist’s work bearing witness to an unregulated trade . Not only are the statistics and tumultuous relationship with his wife, Julia, the film follows the shocking in this incredibly researched film, but also shocking is Zagars as their marriage implodes . Directed by the couple’s young- how international laws are ignored to maintain this hugely success- est son, the film mixes old home movies, animated sequences, ful business . scenes of Isaiah working, of Julia in agony, and their eldest son Zeke grappling with his own demons . In different hands, this film could When 200,000 AK47s go missing from Bosnia stockpiles and are have felt like reality television, but the young filmmaker handles the flown on illegal flights to ‘who-knows-where,’ activists push initia- intensely personal subject matter with grace and integrity . tives to curb the trade at the Un . But the call for a treaty similar to the Land Mines Treaty is blocked . Winner, Best Documentary and Best Editing, Woodstock Film Festival Winner, Emerging Filmmaker award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival In the film, we learn that small weapons aren’t destroyed after a war, but rather channeled to other areas of conflict, sometimes Planet in Focus produces Canada’s largest international envi- smuggled in the bodies of animals . We also learn how the weap- ronmental film & video festival . We use creative environmentally ons trade stands in the way of constructive economic development themed films/videos by Canadian and international filmmakers as in third-world countries . Although the West is responsible as long a catalyst for broad public awareness, discussion and appropriate as the US continues to provide Africa with weapons, responsibil- action on the ecological and social health of the planet . Planet in ity also lies with individual men around the world who continue to Focus has earned global recognition as a leader in environmental rape and kill with western weapons . Through interviews, archival awareness education . footage, and material she shot herself around the world, Saywell makes a passionate plea against the weapons trade . Our 10th anniversary festival runs October 21-25, 2009 . Call for sub- missions closes June 26, 2009 . www planetinfocus. org.

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59 DIGITAL

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Documentary Film Production Certificate (Full-time) 16 week intensive professional training in non-fiction Intakes: September, January, May film-making. Maximum 9 students. Award-winning instructors Digital Film Production Certificate (Full & Part-time) Mentorship approach to training 16 week accelerated professional training in drama, documentary, Up-to-date HD equipment and music video. Maximum 12 students. A convenient W. Broadway location Graduates are creative, passionate filmmakers The Art of Camera and Lighting Certificate (new for Jan 2010) 16 week training program covering technical and creative aspects of Learn more. camerawork & lighting. For students who are looking to consolidate Annat Kennet their knowledge at a professional level. 604.323.5561 or [email protected]

www.langara.bc.ca/cs/dfp Thursday may 28 9:00 PM PC Thursday may 28 9:00 PM VT

Say My Name American Swing Nirit Peled, USA / UK, 2009, 73 minutes Mathew Kaufman and Jon Hart, USA, 2008, 81 minutes

In a hip hop and R’n’B world dominated by men and noted for In 1970s New York, it simply didn’t get any hotter than Plato’s misogyny, the unstoppable female lyricists of Say My Name speak Retreat . Founded by impresario Larry Levenson, the infamous het- candidly about class, race, and gender in pursuing their passions erosexual swingers club opened its doors in 1977 and launched a as female emcees . This beat-filled, traveling documentary takes us most unlikely sexual revolution . It even spawned a disco hit from on a vibrant tour of urban culture and musical movement, from hip Joe Thomas who sang “Gettin’ hot and bothered/ loosen up your hop’s birthplace in the Bronx, to grime on London’s Eastside, and collar/ let’s all do the freak/ at Plato’s Retreat ”. all points Philly, Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, and l .A . in between . Born and raised in the Bronx, Levenson fell into the swinging life- Featuring interviews and musical performances from a diverse cast style while working at McDonald’s and raising a family . He found of artists including Remy Ma, Rah Digga, Jean Grae, Erykah Badu, his calling selling sex to the suburbs . And soon enough, married Estelle and newcomers Chocolate Thai, Invincible, and Miz Korona, couples and singles were commuting from the boroughs to swim, this powerful and timely documentary delves into the amazing eat, and swing at Plato’s . Directors Mathew Kaufman and Jon Hart personal stories of these rhyming women . These commanding combine interviews with the some of the club’s most loyal and performers take on the pornographic images of women featured in famous patrons (writer Buck Henry, former-mayor Ed Koch) . They many music videos and turn those images upside down . As a matter include jaw-dropping footage, such as scenes of the legendary of fact, a debate on that very issue is one of the fascinating clips in mattress room, likened by one club-goer to a can of worms . At the film . These are talented, intelligent, and optimistic women and Plato’s, sex came in all shapes and sizes: a veritable cornucopia of the reality is that the mainstream gets little exposure to their work . concupiscence, with a touch of polyester leisure suit and extra-hold However, Say My Name could start to change that reality . hairspray . The club embodied a type of horny democracy where all bodies were welcome and embraced . But by the mid-80s, the toll Balancing professional dreams with the stark realities of poor urban wrought by AIDS and the IRS (charges of tax evasion landed Larry communities, race, sexism, and motherhood, the artists featured in prison) began to take effect . As Levenson’s empire crumbled, in Say My Name battle for a place in a society and industry that cre- the club went to greater lengths to maintain its dominance . But ates few opportunities for women like themselves . From emerg- while the flesh was willing, the spirit was gone . Plato’s closed its ing artists filled with new creativity, to true pioneers like MC Lyte, doors forever on New Year’s Eve, 1985 . Roxxanne Shante, and Monie Love, these women turn adversity into art . Challenging, uplifting and inspiring — this is the future of The film has the wisdom to simply let the people who were there hip hop . recall, often in graphic detail, the glory days of glory holes and sexual smorgasbords . (The image of a certain swimming pool may take up residence in your brain and never leave .) But for all the genitals on screen, American Swing is possessed of a certain loopy innocence, most of which comes from the people who made the club what it was . An elegiac and loving portrait of a period in American sexual history when anything went, and mom and dad got down and dirty . Vintage raunch at its finest!

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61 IATSE Local 891 P r o u d l y S u p p o r t s

DOXADocumentary Film Festival May 22 to 31, 2009 Vancouver, Canada

1640 Boundary Road Burnaby, BC V5K 4V4 Tel: 604-664-8910 Fax: 604-298-3456

IATSE Local 891 was chartered in 1962. With a membership in excess of 5,000, IATSE Local 891 is the largest IATSE local in Canada representing technical, artistic, and allied crafts in British Columbia and the Yukon. Friday may 29 1:00 PM PC Friday may 29 3:30 PM PC

FORUM: Where is the Line? Representation, exploitation and ethics in documentary filmmaking

When people think of documentary film ethics, they often think of distorting events, manipulation of images or plagiarizing . But what about issues of exploitation, power and representation? Are there people or situations that others should not film? What is informed consent as it relates to children or people who are impaired, severely ill, traumatized or even dead?

In a world where ‘haves’ are often fascinated with images of ‘have- nots’, and where images of war and poverty are everywhere, the creators and consumers of images often forget that the person in a Land of Oil and Water film is a member of someone’s family . Appearing in a film can have an impact for years to come . Does the director have a duty of care? Warren Cariou and Neil McArthur, Canada, 2008, 44 minutes This forum will discuss the subject of power dynamics between Underneath the woods and the muskeg of northern Canada lies filmmaker and film subject and potential repercussions of partici- roughly two trillion barrels of oil . It is fifteen percent of the world’s pating in a documentary film . known reserves and six times more than what’s left in Saudi Arabia . Land of Oil and Water follows the journey of Warren Cariou, a Métis writer from northern Saskatchewan, who learns that the Moderator oil companies from Alberta are expanding into his homeland . Now Anita Ho received a PhD in philosophy from the University of living in Winnipeg, Cariou talks to people in the area about their Alberta, and is currently Assistant Professor in the Centre for hopes and fears about the development . He crosses the border Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia . Her teaching to Alberta to speak with aboriginal communities who have expe- and research interests include biomedical ethics, research ethics, rienced the development . They continue the struggle to preserve cross-cultural ethics, and communication ethics . their traditional way of life in the midst of the largest and most destructive oil recovery operation the world has ever known . Participants Cariou records this journey on film so everyone can see the mag- Meghna Haldar is an award winning filmmaker based in Vancouver . nitude of the oil sands mines . As a writer, he considers depicting it Her feature documentary Dirt screened at DOXA in 2008 and in a book, but realised it wouldn’t have the same impact as a visual won the Best Documentary Award at Toronto’s Female Eye depiction of the people and places we see up close in the film . Festival in 2009 . She has recently completed a film for Knowledge Cariou also wanted the local Métis and First Nations to tell their own called Though the Heavens Fall and is writing a screenplay set in stories about living near this massive development . In his words, Bollywood . “much has been said about the oil sands by outside commentators, Haida Paul has worked in film and television for over 40 years, scientists, and politicians, but few outsiders have ever taken the collaborating with filmmakers from Canada, India, Britain, the US, time to listen to the people who call this place home ”. Speaking the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia . She has been a teacher with intelligence and insight, community members share differing and lecturer at the Directors’ Guild of Canada, Cineworks, Simon opinions and experiences — some positive, some negative — let- Fraser University, Emily Carr University, and the University of ting us make our own minds up about the effects of the oil sands . British Columbia . World Premiere . Filmmakers in attendance . Tami Wilson has been active in Vancouver’s documentary com- Preceded by: munity for 12 years as a festival programmer and filmmaker . Her Terra Sacer most recent project, FLESH, explores the gender politics of meat Alberto Guevara and Elysee Nouvet, Canada, 2008, 17 minutes through a cross-section of female perspectives . It premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival and is now required viewing Over 100,000 Nicaraguans suffer ill effects of exposure to the for Eco-Feminist students throughout North America . pesticide Nemogon, through their work at banana farms . The film introduces a group of these former plantation workers who are Murray Siple began his film career at Emily Carr and went on to camping out in Managua to draw attention to the health problems make extreme sports videos including the cult classic Cascadia they are experiencing . No longer able to work and looking for com- and The Burning . In 1996, a serious car accident changed Murray’s pensation, the workers feel abandoned by the government as they life forever when he became a quadriplegic . Ten years later, Murray struggle with disease and unemployment . returned to filmmaking, incorporating his passion and distinct view- Filmmakers in attendance point in the documentary Carts of Darkness .

Community Partner Forum is free of charge.

Friday may 29 6:30 PM VT Friday may 29 7:00 PM PC

Rough Aunties The Tree Lover Kim Longinotto, South Africa, 2008, 103 minutes Jonas Selberg Augustsén, Sweden, 2008, 76 minutes

Fearless, feisty, and resolute . The ‘Rough Aunties’ are a remark- In a remote corner of northern Sweden, a trio of young men decide able group of women unwavering in their stand to protect and to build a treehouse . Not just any treehouse, but a symbol of a lost care for the abused, neglected, and forgotten children of Durban, Eden, a physical embodiment of the missing connection between South Africa . This latest documentary by celebrated director Kim people and the natural world . With little more than a few architec- Longinotto (Sisters in Law, Divorce Iranian Style) follows the out- tural drawings, a tiny maquette, and a whole lot of gumption, Jonas spoken, multiracial cadre of Thuli, Mildred, Sdudla, Eureka, and (director), Andreas (sound), and Anders (camera) embark on a jour- Jackie . They wage a daily battle to help the most vulnerable of their ney of personal and cultural discovery . It’s very easy to say ‘I want communities through their organization, Bobbi Bear . to build a tree house,’ but the reality of doing it is something else entirely . Jonas discovers this as he is suspended more than four- Jackie, a survivor of abuse, is a white African who grew up in pov- teen metres in the air, desperately trying to hammer nails into a tin erty . While working as an AIDS activist, she learned that young roof . “This is so scary, I could cry,” he says . But the constant threat children were contracting HIV through rape . Infuriated, she fought of plummeting to one’s death, mosquito hell, and the local police to change South African laws that prevented the reporting of rape are the very least of their problems . While Jonas agonizes that their as a crime . Jackie then founded Bobbi Bear not only to educate project is ‘too male’ (the only female on site is Maya, Jonas’s long- women and children about abuse, but also to intervene in the com- suffering dog), and that no one really understands or cares about munity to protect children . the underlying gravity of the project, the hard work of hammer- Thuli, Sdudla, Mildred, and Eureka were all drawn to Jackie and ing, sawing and building must continue . The all-too brief Swedish Bobbi Bear out of their desire to make change . Some had expe- summer is hurrying to a close, and the tree house is unfinished . rienced abuse; all had experienced hardship and poverty . The The Tree Lover is filled with dry humour and a wonderful quixotic women are now community workers, child safety officers, and spirit that recalls the very best of Thoreau or his Swedish equiva- educators . Rough Aunties follows them at home, at work, and in lent Eyvind Jonsson (who almost starved to death in a remote the community, bearing witness to their incredible skill, sensitivity, cabin in the woods) . With a little help from a cultural theorist, a and tenacity . They demonstrate not only that they are not victims, theologian, and a biologist, who collectively explicate the critical but that they are role models for us all . place that trees have long occupied in human history, the filmmak- The women share a passion and commitment to make change for ers craft a beautifully constructed exploration of the human need the next generation and when we witness them confronting an for connection and home . Even if that home is in a tree . As Martin abuser at home, anything seems possible . Despite the harsh reali- Lönnebo, a bishop emeritus explains, the tree is a central image ties of the women’s work, the portraits that emerge on screen are in almost all human mythology and religion . “The further away we filled with grace, wisdom, friendship, and a real sense of humour . get from the forest,” he says, “the more we miss it, until we forget Neither politics nor racial divisions stand a chance against the what it was that we were missing in the first place ”. In an increas- united force of the ‘rough aunties ’. ingly secularized and rootless age, where urban ease has largely replaced real (hard) work, the act of physically building something Winner, Jury Prize in Documentary, Sundance World Cinema proves a revelation . The significance of the latin phrase ‘hic locus Winner, Best Feature, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival santcus est’ meaning ‘this is the place’ becomes clear as water when the final product is finally unveiled .

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65 Labour Working in the Community for Peace and Social Justice ************ Thank you to the DOXA Film Festival for bringing progressive, thought provoking documentary film to Vancouver. ************ From the Vancouver & District Labour Council A proud supporter of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival Friday may 29 9:00 PM PC Friday may 29 9:00 PM VT

The Garden Carmen Meets Borat Scott Hamilton Kennedy, USA, 2008, 80 minutes Mercedes Stalenhoef, The Netherlands, 2008, 85 minutes

The fourteen-acre community garden, at 41st and Alameda in In Carmen Meets Borat, director Mercedes Stalenhoef follows South Central Los Angeles, is the largest of its kind in the United the life of 17 year-old Carmen . She lives in a gypsy village in the States . Started as a form of healing after the devastating l .A . riots mountains of Romania, where the men spend their days tying one in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in on and exchanging coarse words in her father’s bar . Carmen works one of the country’s most blighted neighbourhoods . Growing their daily in her father’s business . At home, she watches a Spanish own food . Feeding their families . Creating a community . But now, soap opera and dreams of a better life in Spain, where the men are bulldozers are poised to level their fourteen-acre oasis . romantic and decent .

The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of Her plan to emigrate falls to pieces when an American film crew this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall . Mostly immi- descends on her village to shoot Borat: Cultural Learnings of grants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan . The villag- their lives if they spoke out, we watch them organize, fight back, ers cooperate on what they believe is a documentary, however, the and demand answers . film depicts the villagers as primitive caricatures supposedly from Kazakhstan . Carmen’s grandfather unknowingly plays the part of Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less a backstreet abortionist and poses for the camera with a welding than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed- apparatus . Borat embraces a woman he introduces as his sister door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made and brags about her status as the fourth best whore in Kazakhstan . public? And the powers-that-be have the same response: “The The villagers don’t understand a single word of English and laugh garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do ”. in good faith into the camera . If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up? As soon as they find out that the English director has made fools The Garden has the pulse of verité with the narrative pull of fiction, of them, they are outraged . When the film is released, the world telling the story of the USA’s largest urban farm, backroom deals, press throws itself on the village . The chaos is made complete land developers, green politics, money, poverty, power, and racial when an American lawyer holds out the prospect of a $30 million discord . The film explores and exposes the fault lines in American insurance claim to the villagers . society and raises crucial and challenging questions about liberty, He persuades Carmen’s father, grandfather, and the mayor to sue equality, and justice for the poorest and most vulnerable among us . Twentieth Century Fox for money that could be used to improve

Academy Award Nominee, Best Documentary Feature the impoverished village . The film culminates with the three men Winner, Sterling Award for US Feature, Silverdocs Documentary Festival traveling to meet with the executives at Twentieth Century Fox . Will the village win their case or is this just another westerner exploiting them? Will Borat himself apologize?

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67 Saturday may 30 12:00 PM VT

Jehad In Motion A documentary installation and artist talk with Richard Fung, Canada, 2008

Richard Fung generates ideas for his films from his own diasporic life history . As such, Fung’s new documentary, Jehad in Motion, is a portrait of Jehad Al-Iweiwe, a Palestinian Canadian who lives in Toronto but regularly returns to visit his family in Hebron . Rendering this documentary as an installation, Jehad in Motion is a double portrait of the man and the two cities he calls home . As such, it unfolds on two screens .

In Toronto, we walk around Thorncliffe Park where Jehad works providing services in a key neighbourhood for newly arrived immigrants . In Hebron, he takes us to the old market where Palestinians have built a horizontal fence to protect themselves . In Toronto, we watch him cook at a Passover Seder for peace . In Hebron, he celebrates his sister’s wedding at a feast for one thousand people . He rejects ethnic and religious nationalisms as a response to racism and oppression UBC Certiﬁcate in and, instead, is committed to the struggle for peace through justice . Moving from place to place, Jehad synthesizes the challenges and Entertainment possibilities in these two very different but overlapping worlds . Artist Biography Administration Richard Fung has made the politics of gender, ethnicity, and identity his central focus . His work deals with gay issues, racism, and Professional development, leadership and business training cultural assertion . Fung brings rich colour to his eloquent narra- for today’s entertainment and new media industry. Courses tives; in his use of both personal experience and cultural history, include marketing, distribution, financing, entertainment his observations are revelatory . His thoughtful voice instills a sense law and production management. of wonder in the viewer, as Fung understands the value even of UÊ iÌÜÀÊÜÌ Ê}ÕiÃÌÊÃ«i>iÀÃ tragic events and experience . UÊ i>ÀÊvÀÊµÕ>vi`Ê`ÕÃÌÀÞÊ«ÀviÃÃ>Ã Fung’s work has been in exhibitions and festivals worldwide UÊ Ûi}Ê>`ÊÜiii`ÊVÕÀÃiÃ and his works are included in public collections and universities UÊ ÕÌiÊ«À}À>ÊÜÌ ÊÌiÀÃ «ÊÀÊ in Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, UÊ *>ÀÌÌiÊ«À}À>ÊÓÊÞi>ÀÃ® Taiwan, the UK, and the US . As a writer and critic, Richard Fung has published extensively and his work has been reviewed in numerous publications . Born in Trinidad, Richard Fung is a frequent Apply today! guest lecturer and currently teaches at the Ontario College of Art tech.ubc.ca/eadx or 604-822-1420 and Design in Toronto . This event is free of charge. community Partner Saturday may 30 12:30 PM PC Saturday may 30 2:00 PM PC

FORUM: The Ecology of Films

Today a growing number of documentary films address environmental crises around the globe . At DOXA this year, we have ecological films on the Alberta oil sands, wild horses, wild salmon, seed pres- ervation, community gardens, mining, water, and people’s relationship to trees . In this forum, filmmakers and enviromentalists will discuss their inspirations, the potential of films making real change, and how filmmakers can increase the impact of their films, while not increasing the environmental impact of filmmaking .

Moderator As Climate Change Director, Morag Carter leads the David Suzuki Upstream Battle Foundation’s efforts to promote effective science-based solutions to climate change and energy issues . She has over 15 years experi- Ben Kempas, Germany, 2008, 97 minutes ence in the areas of public health and environmental policy reform . Since the beginning of time, Pacific salmon have swum up the Morag is a strategic leader and manager with significant political Klamath River to their spawning grounds . A few generations ago, experience at the provincial, federal and international levels . there were a million salmon per season . Today there are only a Participants few thousand . Four hydroelectric dams in northern California and Oregon have cut off their path and turned the water into a toxic Warren Cariou grew up in Saskatchewan and has worked as soup . In 2002, as many as 70,000 salmon died from these condi- a construction worker, a technical writer, and a political aide . tions in one of the worst fish kills in American history . One of the He teaches Aboriginal Literature at the University of Manitoba, most haunting images in Upstream Battle is that of salmon leaping where he is Canada Research Chair and Director of the Centre for out of the water, only to smack into the dam . Director Ben Kempas Creative Writing and Oral Traditions . Cariou is of Métis, German, tells the remarkable story of the battle over the use of this river, in and Norwegian heritage . His writing explores the relationships which average citizens struggle against a multinational corporation between Native and non-Native communities in Western Canada . that appears as impenetrable as its dams . Land of Oil and Water is his first film .

One leader of the citizen’s crusade is Merv George . He is a member Ben Kempas was born in Stuttgart and studied documentary of the Hoopa Valley tribe, whose people have fished the salmon filmmaking at the University of Television and Film Munich . He since long before there was a California . George is a witty and directed the feature-length documentaries To Be a Nation Again charismatic embodiment of both the modern and the traditional . (1999) and The Loch Long Monster (2001) for television . Upstream He plays in a rock‘n’roll band, but also hunts woodpeckers to make Battle (2008) is his theatrical documentary debut . ceremonial objects from their feathers . His wife Wendy equals Jodie Martinson studied filmmaking at the Berkeley Digital Film him in charm, feistiness, and devotion to upholding Hoopa ways . Institute in California . She has worked in environmental consulting Their tribe has managed to maintain its traditions while so many and documentary filmmaking since 2006 . To The Tar Sands is her other pre-colonial people have lost theirs . But the Hoopa culture is first feature-length documentary . It was made from the back of largely based around fishing salmon . “If they’re sick, we’re sick,” her bicycle and screened to a sold-out crowd at the 2008 Calgary says George . International Film Festival . Martinson’s current projects include This quarrel could easily have been framed as a classic David and reporting from India on electronic waste for a documentary for PBS Goliath confrontation, but Upstream Battle is wonderfully nuanced, Frontline World . acknowledging the complexity of the situation . The other stake- Neil McArthur was born in Regina and spent part of his childhood holders in this ecosystem include farmers who rely on the water for in northern Saskatchewan . Currently a professor at the University of irrigation; the neighbouring tribes of Yurok, Karuk and Klamath; and Manitoba, he specialises in the history of European philosophy and commercial fishermen who catch the salmon at sea . The film man- literature . His film Out of the Way premiered at the 2006 Calgary ages to humanize those on all sides, including the corporate employ- International Film Festival . He is a member of the Winnipeg Film ees whose own livelihoods are in flux over changing owners . Group (WFG) and has trained in film and video production through When the dam license comes up for renewal, George and his the WFG and SAW Video in Ottawa . allies pursue a once-in-a-lifetime chance to force the new owner, billionaire Warren Buffett, into the largest dam removal project This forum follows the screening of Upstream Battle . in history . It may seem like an upstream battle, but so are most Forum is free of charge. battles worth fighting .

Filmmaker in attendance

Followed by a public forum: The Ecology of Films.

69 Reality Sandwiches Essay by Haida Paul

“...documentary... a cinematic tradition and mode of audience in the editing process which can take anywhere from six months reception that is continually evolving and is without clear to a year . boundaries...” 1 “This great glop of material which represents the externally record- One day in the early seventies I watched an extraordinary film ed memory of my experience of making the film is of necessity called High School . Produced, directed and edited by Frederick incomplete. The memories not preserved on film float somewhat Wiseman and photographed by Richard Leiterman, High School in my mind as fragments available for recall, unavailable for inclu- was an epiphany for me . Or perhaps the seed of an epiphany, sion but of great importance in the mining and shifting process which sprouted in my mind and took root in the way I began think- known as editing. This editorial process ... is sometimes deductive, ing about documentary . sometimes associational, sometimes non-logical and sometimes At the time, I was an apprentice negative-cutter and scarcely knew a failure... The crucial element for me is to try and think through the defining divide between documentary and fiction film until some my own relationship to the material by whatever combination of one told me about ‘suspension of disbelief ’. This term, to me, de- means is compatible. This involves a need to conduct a four-way scribed a vital requirement in everyday life, not just at the movies . conversation between myself, the sequence being worked on, my memory, and general values and experience.” 5 “According to the theory, suspension of disbelief is a quid pro quo: the audience tacitly agrees to provisionally suspend their Wiseman’s films offer no commentary or narration . The sound judgment in exchange for the promise of entertainment.” 2 tracks carry no scored music or sound other than what was recorded on location . His films are long, sometimes exceeding three During my next few years as a fledgling editor, I wielded my splicer hours . They provoke questions that have no simple answers . They with enthusiasm on every project that came my way: ads, promos, allow, even encourage, opposing perspectives . documentaries of every kind, tv dramas and feature films . It soon became clear that they all, in one way or another, involved issues I’m unable to think of a term that might describe the opposite of of belief or disbelief, for which I, as an editor, was expected to ‘suspending disbelief ’. However, Wiseman’s work presents us with enhance or dispel . an opportunity to neither believe nor disbelieve . He shows us his own distillation of his own experience . We are then free to make of “Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape it what we will . Responsibility for interpretation is in the mind of the perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to beholder . And isn’t that finally the purpose of art? achieve a response that furthers the desired intent.” 3

Around this time two things happened . A friend took me to see Curator Biography Welfare (another Wiseman masterpiece, made in 1975 and photo- Haida has worked in film and television for over 40 years . Her pas- graphed by William Brayne), and I realized that if I was going to sion for the documentary form was ignited by the early work of Allan fiddle with the ‘truth’, I wanted it to be the kind of truth that Wise- King, the Maysles Brothers & Charlotte Zwerin and, perhaps most man’s films demonstrate . significantly, Frederick Wiseman . Over the years she has collaborated with independent filmmakers When High School and Welfare were made, films described as from Canada, India, Britain, the United cinéma vérité and direct cinema were generally viewed as rep- States, the Philippines, Vietnam, and resentations of unvarnished reality, a truer documentation . Wise- Indonesia . Her teaching activities in- man’s insight, however, was to recognize that there is no pure clude apprenticeship training for Dir- documentary form, and that all filmmaking, irrespective of the in- ectors’ Guild of Canada, workshops tention, involves a process of imposing order . For this reason he and seminars with Cineworks Canada, prefers to call his films ‘reality fictions ’. sessional lecturer at Simon Fraser Uni- versity, Emily Carr University, and the “Any documentary, mine or anyone else’s, made in no matter University of British Columbia . what style, is arbitrary, biased, prejudiced, compressed and

subjective. Like any of its sisterly or brotherly fictional forms, NOTES 4 it is born in choice.” The title of this essay is taken from Allen Ginsberg’s book of poetry, ‘Reality Sandwiches’, City Lights Publishers, 1963 . In documentary, the initial fracture with reality occurs in the choices 1 http://en wikipedia. .org/wiki/Documentary_film made on location . The context of the shoot is always relevant . Who Source: Nichols, Bill . ‘Foreword’, in Barry Keith Grant and Jeannette and what are being filmed? Why? Subjectivity and objectivity inter- Sloniowski (eds .) Documenting The Documentary: Close Readings of mingle freely in those decisions . My preference is to work with dir- Documentary Film and Video . Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997 ectors who know their bias and whether or not they wish to pursue 2 http://en wikipedia. org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief. it into the editing room . Documentary editing is a constant process 3 http://en wikipedia. .org/wiki/Propaganda of manipulation . But even more than this, it is a creative expression Source: Garth S . Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion of a particular point of view . 4 johnjosephbachir .org/content/wiseman .pdf Source: Wiseman, Frederick . “Editing as a four-way conversation” . Wiseman, who always edits his own films, utilizes his experiences Dox: Documentary Film Quarterly, n 1. (April 1994): 4-6 during location shooting as a form of research . He ‘finds’ the film 5 ibid

70 Saturday may 30 2:30 PM VT Saturday May 30 4:00 PM PC

Welfare My Mother’s Farm Frederick Wiseman, USA, 1975, 167 minutes Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen, Norway, 2008, 55 minutes

Curated by Haida Paul Tale Kalna is nothing short of a Latvian legend . Shortly after she was born in 1947 her father was imprisoned, tortured, and sent to Welfare is one of Frederick Wiseman’s most demanding and reward- Siberia simply because he owned a farm . Like most other Latvians ing films . Shot in 1975 at a New York City welfare agency, the film of her generation, it became a dream to once again own land . For reflects the struggle of welfare workers and clients attempting to this dream to become reality, Tale endured some historical political function within the web of institutional laws and regulations govern- moments: the USSR occupation, Latvia’s hard-fought indepen- ing their transactions . As with most Wiseman films (such asTiticut dence, the fall of the red army, and eventually the joining of the Follies, High School, Juvenile Court, Law & Order) the venue is EU . Throughout these tumultuous decades she managed to raise institutional and easily recognizable . The action takes place within two beautiful daughters, work as a propaganda specialist, bring that framework of social mechanism . The camera simply looks and opera to the countryside, and advocate for better rural transit . Tale records . The resulting footage, superbly photographed by William Kalna’s thoughts have never been limited by the borders of her Brayne, exposes the relentless flow of problems that drive people own little farm . to seek aid: unemployment, inadequate housing, addiction, racism, homophobia, medical and psychiatric disorders, child abuse, and Her tale is told through the eyes of her eldest daughter, director Ilze neglect of the elderly . The needs are overwhelming . The red tape Burkovska Jacobsen, who began filming ‘mama’ during glasnost is endless . Claimants’ responses to the system run the gamut from and perestroika . Ilze affectionately chronicles over sixty years of abject resignation to enraged antagonism . Latvian history through the labours and accomplishments of her mother . With candid narration we learn that in ‘1985 something A young woman is told by her interviewer that he’s ‘looking after unexpected happens . The Soviet Union gets a leader who walks two and a half million people and that if a couple of thousand don’t among the people . Mikhail Gorbachev thinks like mama . The coun- get what’s due them, I’m doing a good job ’. The young woman try needs agricultural reform ’. This was a golden time for Tale, a leaves . A man with a fractured skull heaps racist abuse on a kindly passionate and patriotic woman who rented, and eventually owned, security officer . Two children play at shooting each other with one of the first independent farms in the Republic ofL atvia . As her umbrellas . A woman wrapped in a huge overcoat suckles her baby . daughter lovingly notes, ‘a little voice can make a difference and if Beside her, an old man gazes apprehensively at the handful of nobody else speaks out, you will ’. forms he holds . Preceded by: In the early 70s, technical advances made it possible to shoot syn- Mama, L’Chaim! chronized sound documentaries with available light . This enabled Elkan Spiller, Germany, 2008, 5 minutes Wiseman to use lightweight equipment, no additional lights, and a small, unobtrusive crew . He recorded sound in tandem with Sixty-two-year-old Chaim Lubelski lives with his ninety-five-year- Brayne on camera . They used a system of discreet signals to com- old mother, a concentration camp survivor . Chaim’s mother was municate on who or what the camera should follow . Wiseman’s born in Poland and survived the camps, though her parents and editing is brilliant . What emerges is the evocation of endless days first husband all perished . Knowing what his parents had endured, spent standing in queues or waiting in crowded corridors under the Chaim made it his mission in life to care for them as they got older relentless glare of fluorescent lights . The film does not judge wel- and now attends to his mother twenty-four hours a day . These fare workers, people on welfare, the security staff, or the person lively and humorous characters share both the light-hearted antics who sweeps up at the end of the day . It is a film that asks the of daily life and the tears and memories of the Holocaust . A touch- question ‘whose fault is all this?’ Welfare is as sadly relevant today ing and surprisingly joyful insight into the lives of these astonishing as when it was made 35 years ago . survivors .

community Partner

71 MORE GREAT FESTIVALS

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Antimatter Film Festival Victoria Film Festival October 9–17, 2009, Victoria January 29 – February 7, 2010, Victoria Dedicated to the exhibition and nurturing of film and video The best current cinema that reflects contemporary thinking on as art, Antimatter is the premiere showcase of experimental cultural, artistic and philosophical ideas, the VFF makes a great cinema in the West, encompassing screenings, installations, excuse for a weekend film getaway to beautiful Victoria. performances and media hybrids. www.VictoriaFilmFestival.com www.antimatter.ws

Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone February – March 2010, Vancouver The Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois et francophone recognizes the success of Canadian cinema, celebrating the CoDev’s World Community Film Festival diversity and talent of our artists. More than 50 films are January 29–31, 2010, Langara College, Vancouver screened, including many Genie and Jutra award nominees. CoDevelopment Canada is pleased to present the 9th Attend the screenings of recent Quebec productions and enjoy annual World Community Film Festival. Social justice and a large selection of recent French films that illustrate the real environmental documentaries set around the globe. The dynamism of Canadian cinema today. festival brings together Vancouver’s diverse social justice www.rendez-vousvancouver.com community to a festival that allows for reflection, provides a forum for discussion and prompts participants to action. www.codev.org/filmfest

Vancouver Jewish Film Festival October 24 – November 8, 2009, Vancouver The Vancouver Jewish Film Festival mandate is to show films Vancouver International Film Festival that have a Jewish Subject Matter. It runs an annual festival in October 1–15, 2009, Vancouver the fall and is in its 21st year. It is the longest running Jewish Same Planet. Different Worlds. Join us for a celebration of film festival in Canada and one of the best festivals of its type in extraordinary film with over 350 films from around the world. North America. www.viff.org www.vjff.org

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March 30, 2009